Battle of Basra ( 2003 ) The Battle of Basra lasted from March 21 , 2003 to April 6 , 2003 and was one of the first battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq . The British 7 Armoured Brigade fought their way into Iraq ' s second - largest city , Basra , on 6 April coming under constant attack by regulars and Fedayeen . While elements of the Parachute Regiment cleared the ' old quarter ' of the city that was inaccessible to vehicles . Entering Basra had only been achieved after two weeks of conflict , which included the biggest tank battle by British forces since the Second World War when the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks on 27 March . Background . Basra is a city of more than one million people , located in Southern Iraq . To military and economic planners , it represents a strategic objective because it sits near a port that provides access from inland Iraq to the Persian Gulf . The area around Basra itself produces much of Iraq ' s oil , which is processed at a local refinery . To the south - east is Rumaila oil field , which by itself contains billions of barrels worth of crude oil — 14 % of the world supply . To the north - east is the West Qurna Field , the second - largest oil field in the world . Britain captured Basra from the Ottoman Empire in 1914 and suppressed an Arab revolt there in 1941 . The city was a major target during the Iran - Iraq war of the 1980s and was bombed by the US in the 1991 Gulf War . Basra was the site of a 1991 uprising to overthrow Saddam Hussein after the US had driven the Iraqi Army from Kuwait . Residents became embittered when support promised by the US did not materialize . Basra then suffered from years of sanctions and bombing , as well as bad treatment from Hussein . An Iraqi living in exile said in 2001 : " Iraqis think Saddam is America ' s man . These people are not going to forget what has happened to them . In their eyes , it is genocide . And people do not forget genocide . " The population of Basra saw a dramatic increase in birth defects and childhood cancer during the 1990s ; these illnesses and others were blamed on US depleted uranium munitions used in 1991 . Sanctions compounded the problem by blocking access to medical equipment and increasing the price of supplies . The United States bombed Basra routinely throughout the 1990s and leading up to the Iraq War . A new war . Basrans learned of the planned invasion in late 2002 began to prepare for an attack — forming militiats and building fortifications . Regular bombings of Basra continued during this period . Basra targeted . The US declared Basra as one of its first targets of the war . Spokespeople for the US military told the media that Basra ' s Shi ' ite population would welcome the invading forces and rise up against Saddam Hussein . This claim played a role in the public relations campaign conducted by the US and UK governments to win public support for the war . Among Iraqi cities , Basra “ would be one that would fall quickly and would yield immediate photogenic results ” , said US military historian Raymond Callahan . " Basra is a prime target . It would give a clear message to the regime - we have got your oil and commercial centre " , said Colonel Christopher Langton of the International Institute of Strategic Studies . Approach . US and UK forces entered Iraq from Kuwait on 19 March , approaching Basra on the road that had become notorious as the “ Highway of Death ” during the Gulf War . The invading army reportedly moved slowly down the highway , having created a traffic jam of military vehicles . The first fighting of the declared invasion took place on the oilfields and coastline near Basra . Some fires had already been started at the oil fields . Three fires were visible from across the border in Kuwait . US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld blamed Hussein and said : " It is a crime for that regime to be destroying the riches of the Iraqi people . " The immediate objective for the Coalition forces was to control Basra and the nearby Rumaila oil field . By 22 March , US Marines had gained control of the oil field . Aircraft dropped leaflets on Basra urging Iraqi soldiers to surrender ; some did . Siege . Coalition forces met with unexpected resistance in Basra and environs . After a few days of combat , most of the invading American troops moved northwards , leaving Basra under a multi - week siege led by the British — considered more experienced because of their history as colonial administrators of Iraq and of Northern Ireland . “ Humanitarian crisis ” . Water and electricity became scarce after most of Basra ' s electrical infrastructure was destroyed on 21 March . On 24 March , the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that 60 % of Basra ' s population had been cut off from clean water , and warned of a coming “ humanitarian crisis ” . " Al Jazeera " reported on 27 March that US and UK forces had blocked the city ' s supply of drinking water , and were preventing the Red Cross from restoring access . US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said on 31 March : There seems to be a water problem in Basra but it should be very clear it ' s not because of anything we did . There ' s been no bombing of Basra . It seems to be something the regime did . The Red Cross has been in there and we ' re told that 70 percent of the water supply has been restored . The Kuwaitis are laying a pipe up to the border with water and we ' re going to pipe it on up to the city . The Center for Economic and Social Rights reported that the “ Anglo - American deprived one million residents of access to safe drinking water for almost two weeks ” . The CESR described this action as an attack on a civilian population : a war crime under the Geneva Convention and Hague Convention . Spokespeople for the occupying powers said that humanitarian aid shipments were nearby and available , but it was not yet possible to transport or distribute them . British engineers attributed the shortages to looting and long - term decay of infrastructure . According to antiwar philosopher Arundhati Roy , the British forces eventually provided food and water ( for sale ) at trucks on the city outskirts . Roy wrote : After days of enforcing hunger and thirst on the citizens of Basra , the " Allies " have brought in a few trucks of food and water and positioned them tantalisingly on the outskirts of the city . Desperate people flock to the trucks and fight each other for food . ( The water we hear , is being sold . To revitalise the dying economy , you understand . ) On top of the trucks , desperate photographers fought each other to get pictures of desperate people fighting each other for food . Those pictures will go out through photo agencies to newspapers and glossy magazines that pay extremely well . Their message : The messiahs are at hand , distributing fishes and loaves . Aerial bombing . The invading forces ( including the Australian Air Force ) used bombing and psychological warfare during the siege . On 5 April , US bombers targeted the residential al - Tuwaisi area of downtown Basra — reportedly attempting to kill Ali Hassan al - Majid ( a . k . a . “ Chemical Ali ” ) . Al - Majid was not present , but 17 civilians were killed by one of two 500 - pound laser - guided bombs dropped by US planes . Cluster bombs . Cluster bombs are controversial because they can leave unexploded “ bomblets ” which , like landmines , pose an ongoing threat to civilians . The UK did not acknowledge any use of cluster bombs until 3 April , at which time it maintained that these bombs were not used near dense civilian populations . Colonel Chris Vernon stated : " We are not using cluster munitions , for obvious collateral damage reasons , in and around Basra . " On 7 April , UK Secretary of Defense Geoff Hoon said he was “ confident that the right balance [ had ] been struck ” between avoiding civilian casualties and protecting Coalition troops . On 28 May , Britain said it had used cluster bombs in Basra . According to Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram : " We said they would be targeted on specific military targets . There were troops , there was equipment in and around the built - up areas , therefore the bombs were used accordingly to take out the threat to our troops . " Ingram acknowledged using more 2000 cluster bomb projectiles on Basra . These were mostly L20A1 artillery shells , fired from the ground — each containing 49 smaller explosives . About 102 , 900 individual grenades were therefore fired . According to the UK Ministry of Defense , only 2 % of these were “ duds ” that did not explode immediately . UK cluster bombs caused numerous civilian casualties in Basra during the first few days of battle . Human Rights Watch reported : U . K . forces caused dozens of civilian casualties when they used ground - launched cluster munitions in and around Basra . A trio of neighborhoods in the southern part of the city was particularly hard hit . At noon on March 23 , a cluster strike hit Hay al - Muhandissin al - Kubra ( the engineers ’ district ) while ` Abbas Kadhim , 13 , was throwing out the garbage . He had acute injuries to his bowel and liver , and a fragment that could not be removed lodged near his heart . On May 4 , he was still in Basra ’ s al Jumhuriyya Hospital . Three hours later , submunitions blanketed the neighborhood of al - Mishraq al Jadid about two - and - a - half kilometers ( one - and - a - half miles ) northeast . Iyad Jassim Ibrahim , a 26 - year old carpenter , was sleeping in the front room of his home when shrapnel injuries caused him to lose consciousness . He later died in surgery . Ten relatives who were sleeping elsewhere in the house suffered shrapnel injuries . Across the street , the cluster strike injured three children . The attack also left dud grenades scattered through Basra . Some of these injured children who picked them up . Others injured UK troops later tasked with cleanup Children were also injured by “ dud ” grenades fired by the Iraqi military . Landmines . The Iraqi military used antipersonnel and antivehicle landmines to obstruct the Coalition advance and to fortify urban positions . These mines caused civilian and military casualties . Depleted uranium . US and UK forces both used depleted uranium munitions in the course of the battle . Basra officials contested the use of these weapons , saying that depleted uranium used during the 1991 Gulf War was responsible for birth defects and cancer among the city ' s population . US munitions director Colonel James Naughton explicitly addressed concerns about the poisonous effects of these weapons , saying that Iraq had exaggerated these claims in order to avoid fighting against the weapon : The Iraqis tell us terrible things happened to our people because you used it last time . Why do they want it to go away ? They want it to go away because we kicked the crap out of them — OK ? ” Friendly Fire ” incident . Several British soldiers , operating two Scimitar tanks were wounded , and one killed , as a result of “ friendly fire ” by a US A - 10 Thunderbolt pilot . This incident provoked controversy in the UK media and was later judged to be an “ unlawful killing ” . Other events . British paratroopers fought two companies of Iraqi infantry in the Rumaila oil fields , killing several hundred . Invasion of Basra . US military spokespeople announced that the British forces would conduct “ smash and grab ” raids against Hussein loyalists . Using tanks , the British began to gain control over buildings and shantytown areas on the outskirts of the city . Eventually , a column of 120 retreating Iraqi tanks coalesced ; it was mostly destroyed by UK and US bombs , as well as UK tank fire . 300 prisoners were taken in a battle outside the city . This event was described as the largest British tank battle since World War II . British tanks ( the British 7 Armoured Brigade , known as “ Desert Rats ” ) entered city center on 6 April after repeated raids and shelling . Occupation . By 23 April 2003 , oil was flowing through pipelines from the Basra area . In the following months , the US reported acts of sabotage against the oil production and transport operations in the area . On 4 July 2003 , Wael Abdul Latif was appointed as Basra ' s provisional governor . In August , Basrans began mass demonstrations , which sometimes spilled over into riots . British soldiers in riot gear used rubber bullets against thousands of people filling the streets and throwing stones . In September 2003 , a Basran named Baha Mousa died in British custody . Later investigation found that British soldiers had abused and tortured multiple detainees from the area . Aftermath . Itself victimized by bombings , the Red Cross withdrew from Basra in October 2003 — exacerbating ongoing health issues . Unexploded ordnance . The battle left unexploded ordnance and weapons stockpiles throughout Basra and surrounding areas . These endanger children and other people who might trigger or encounter an accidental explosion . Health issues . Later investigation has found that Coalition bombers used heavy metals , such as lead and mercury . These metals have poisoned babies who were born in Basra after 2003 , in some cases causing serious birth defect s . A 2012 study found that babies born in Basra during 2011 were 17 times more likely to suffer from birth defects than babies born in 1995 . These defects most commonly involved damage to the central nervous system . Childhook leukemia rates have increased substantially . Cancer rates have also increased overall . The epidemic of childhood sickness and cancer in southern Iraq has been attributed to Coalition use of depleted uranium munitions — in 2003 as well as 1991 . The Basrah area reportedly contains the country ' s densest concentration of sites contaminated by these weapons . Doctors and environmental workers in Basrah had become aware of possible depleted uranium poisoning in the 1990s and begun remediation efforts ; these were suspended when war broke out anew in 2003 . Epidemiological studies have been scarce and uncertainty remains about the causes and solutions to the poor health of the Basra population . Doctors and government officials have identified this uncertainty itself as a source of anxiety , fear , and distrust . Cleanup workers who later found depleted uranium rounds were asked to wear gloves and mask , to place any rounds in water , seal the containers , and deliver them to a nearby UK Army Base . Contaminated scrap metal also represents a major source for possible expoure . The UK Ministry of Defense later released information on 51 locations in Basrah Province where it used depleted uranium munitions .