Italian involvement in the Iraq War

Italian involvement in the Iraq War
Part of Iraq War
Italian Army personnel depart Tallil Air Base, Iraq for an early morning convoy escort duty on 28 April 2005
Date 15 July 2003 – 1 December 2006 Location Mostly Nasiriyah, Iraq Result Italian Operational Success[1]
Belligerents
Mahdi Army Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad	Italy  Romania  Portugal
Commanders and leaders
Muqtada al-Sadr Aws al-Khafaji  Abu Musab al-Zarqawi	Gian Marco Chiarini Nicolae Ciucă
Units involved
Mahdi Army Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad	132nd Armored Brigade 26th Infantry Battalion
Strength
over 10,000	3,200 Italian soldiers, a Romanian battalion, units of the Portuguese military police
Casualties and losses
unknown, but high	36 Italian casualties 1 Romanian casualty

Operation Ancient Babylon (Italian: Operazione Antica Babilonia) was the code name given to the deployment of Italian forces during the Iraq War. Their mission lasted from 15 July 2003 to 1 December 2006. The troops were located in and around Nasiriyah.^[2]

Italy lost 36 soldiers during the mission, half of them in the 2003 Nasiriyah bombing against the Carabinieri Multinational Specialized Unit base. Italian forces were assisted by Portuguese and Romanian troops.