Hammurabi Armoured Republican Guard Division | |
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Active | May 1986 – 2003 |
Country | Iraq |
Allegiance | Ba'athist Iraq |
Branch | Iraqi Republican Guard |
Type | Armoured Division |
Role | Shock troops |
Size | ≈10,000 (1991) |
Engagements | |
Commanders | |
Last Commander | Najim Abdallah Zahwen Al Ujayli[1] |
Notable commanders | Ra'ad al-Hamdani |
The 'Hammurabi' Armored Division (Arabic: فرقة حمورابي المدرعة) was an elite formation of the Iraqi Republican Guard. It was named after Hammurabi; a Babylonian King known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's Code, which constitute one of the earliest surviving codes of law in recorded history.
The division was decisively defeated by the United States Armed Forces in 1991, when it was forced out of Kuwait after suffering heavy casualties, and again in 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq. The latter resulted in the total collapse of the division as its senior officers abandoned their posts, and it was never reformed as the Republican Guard itself was disbanded following the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.