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 were massacred by Iraqi government forces. Until the 2003 war, Nasiriyah was home to one of the biggest communities of Mandeans in Iraq. In March 2003, Nasiriyah was one of the first major battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Phillip Mitchell of the International Institute for Strategic Studies so described the town's strategic importance to The Guardian: On March 23, the U.S. invasion force was ambushed near the city: 11 Marines were killed and Army Private Jessica Lynch, Army Private Lori Piestewa and Specialist Shoshana Johnson were taken prisoners of war during the skirmishes. The Battle of Nasiriyah between