Operation Steel Curtain

Operation Steel Curtain
Part of the Iraq War
A U.S. Marine and Iraqi Army soldiers watch over the surrounding streets from a rooftop in Karabilah, Iraq, during Operation Steel Curtain on 11 November 2005.
Date 5–22 November 2005 Location Husaybah, Karabilah, Ubaydi, Iraq Result U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States New Iraqi Army	Al-Qaeda in Iraq Other insurgents
Commanders and leaders
Col. J.D. Alford (3/6) Col. S.W. Davis (RCT-2)	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Casualties and losses
10 killed, 30 injured[1] Unknown	139 killed 256 captured
97+ civilians killed[2]

Operation Steel Curtain (Arabic: الحجاب الفولاذي Al Hejab Elfulathi) was a military operation executed by coalition forces in early November 2005 to reduce the flow of foreign insurgents crossing the border and joining the Iraqi insurgency. The operation was important in that it was the first large scale deployment of the New Iraqi Army. This offensive was part of the larger Operation Sayeed (Hunter), designed to prevent al Qaeda in Iraq from operating in the Euphrates River Valley and throughout Al Anbar and to establish a permanent Iraqi Army presence in the Al Qa’im region.