Coalition Supports Iraqi Security Forces In Community Assist
One of the most common events in the Middle East is the occasional religious related pilgrimage. Members of different religious groups will travel long distance, sometimes thousands of miles, to visit a particular place of religious importance.
There is a pilgrimage that is held every year where pilgrims travel from Najaf to Samarra. It is to attend a Sha?a religious observation event held each year in Samarra, over a distance of 620 miles.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 4th battalion, 9th Iraqi Army division, 37th Brigade, 3rd battalion worked to provide escort and security. They decided to close different portions of the Baghdad Mosul highway to assist and maintain security for the pilgrims.
There were over 3,000 members that went on the pilgrimage, and this is the first time that the Iraqi Army has been called to provide such escort and security support, and early results from the pilgrimage shows it was successful.
The gains in security and overall stability of Iraq has been apparent, and this is another example of how well things are going for the Iraqi Security Forces.
The pilgrims traveled each way over 300 miles, and the pilgrims were pleased to that the security officers overseeing their trip were Iraqi nationals. Many of the pilgrims were satisfied because they were protected by fellow Iraqi?s, and in some cases even fellow Sha?a religious sects members.