Iraq News
Security

Rapid Response: Elite Iraqi force advancing on Mosul

AFP

This photo taken on October 21st shows forces from Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division, which is at the forefront of the southern advance on Mosul, deployed near the village of Tall al-Tibah. [Bulent Kilic/AFP]

This photo taken on October 21st shows forces from Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division, which is at the forefront of the southern advance on Mosul, deployed near the village of Tall al-Tibah. [Bulent Kilic/AFP]

Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division, which is now at the forefront of the southern advance on Mosul, has emerged as a key assault force in the country's war against extremist fighters.

Backed by artillery and trained in a programme influenced by US special forces, the interior ministry unit has played a major role in other battles against the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), including in Fallujah.

Now, Rapid Response is "the first force nominated to storm the city of Mosul from the southern front" and is "advancing the units on this front", its commander, Maj. Gen. Thamer Mohammed Ismail, told AFP.

It is the culmination of a major transformation for the force, which was originally made up of "small groups from the provinces" tasked with arresting criminals and fighting terrorism, Ismail said.

Rapid Response is now armed with new Croatian assault rifles, advances in matte green armoured Humvees mounted with machine guns, and is backed by its own artillery and rocket units.

The changes came "when the mission changed in 2014", after ISIL rapidly overran swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad, said Ismail.

"The Rapid Response Division needed combat equipment... to implement its assigned duties," he said.

The size of the unit has also increased significantly over the years, and it now includes thousands of personnel.

Tough training

To become part of Rapid Response, both officers and enlisted personnel must go through multiple rounds of grueling training.

There is one round that focuses on physical training, another on weapons and a third that is known as selection.

It combines the elements from other rounds with "some special combat skills for advancing and clearing houses and clearing cities and streets, and dealing with bombs, and medicine and communications", among others, Ismail said.

The pass rate was previously 45% but was increased due to military necessity, and is now around 60%, he said.

Capt. Wissam Ammar, who joined Rapid Response in 2008 and is now deployed in Ninawa province as part of the drive on Mosul, recalled a significantly higher rate of failure during training.

"I remember that 800 entered with us in our round, we enter officers and soldiers together. Out of 800... we graduated about 97 people," said Ammar.

Anyone from Rapid Response "has the right to be proud... of this force, has the right to be proud of himself", said Ammar.

Asked for an experience that stood out from his time in service, Ammar pointed to several instances of extremely close-quarters fighting against ISIL.

'Like devils'

Second Lt. Hussein Sultani, an officer in a medical unit, joined Rapid Response a year ago and is now also deployed in Ninawa.

During selection, "the officer and the enlisted man enter together, you take off your rank and enter together", said Sultani.

There is a rivalry between the Rapid Response Division and the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), Iraq's best known special forces unit.

Staff Brig. Gen. Qusay Kadhim Hamid said that in the 2015 battle to retake Tikrit, another northern city, from ISIL, CTS was the unit that raised the Iraqi flag.

But in Fallujah earlier this year, the "Rapid Response Division was the one who raised the flag before the special forces, and they were a little sad".

Hamid recalled an intercepted conversation during the Fallujah battle in which ISIL said that Rapid Response forces were "like devils, I don't know... how they are advancing".

"It is not that they have no fear -- there is no one who is not afraid," Hamid said of Rapid Response.

But "when they begin advancing, they do not fall back".

Do you like this article?

1 Comment(s)
Comment Policy * Denotes Required Field 1500 / 1500

I’m a member of the rapid response unit. I’m proud of that. From Mosul, we’ll soon be victorious.

Reply