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 on their behalf, having curried their favor by strongly supporting the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. In the early 20th century, Nasiriyah had a population of roughly 10,000. Most of its inhabitants were Shia Muslim Arabs, although there were about 1,000 Sunni Muslim Arabs, 300 Mandeans, 300 Persians, 200 Ethiopians, 150 Jews, 50 Turkmens, 50 Kurds and 20 indigenous Christians. It was a major center of trade in Ottoman Iraq and imported foreign goods via commerce with Baghdad and Basra. The chief commodities Nasiriyah produced included leather, grain and ghee. The town contained about 600 well-built stone houses, but most buildings