History of the Australian Army with automatic weapons; and shoot army personnel or others until they were killed or captured. Australia, as one of the many countries who sent troops to Afghanistan, provided specialist SAS teams for use against Taliban/Al Qaeda forces. Australia was one of the countries to provide combat forces for the US-led invasion of Iraq. In Australia it was known as Operation Falconer. In all Australia contributed some 2,000 personnel. The Army contribution to this was 500 soldiers. Following the end of major combat operations, Australia announced a withdrawal of most of its forces in Iraq. It left behind approximately 950 troops
Nasiriyah Central Prison Nasiriyah Central Prison Nasiriyah Central Prison, also known as al-Hoot prison, is a maximum security prison near Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar Governorate of Iraq. It is the largest prison in southern Iraq. The prison was built at a cost of roughly $49,000,000 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It opened in July 2008. According to Alkarama, a Swiss human rights organisation, "conditions of detention in Al Nasiriyah prison remain very poor and prisoners are systematically tortured on a daily basis". Iraqi officials have stated that around 1,200 of the estimated 6,000 prisoners held in Nasiriyah have been