War-torn veteran back in battle
On the frontline of the battle against Islamic State in Iraq, Thom Westcott finds an armoured Defender that has been involved in every conflict since the fall of Saddam Hussein
Thom Westcott sees a survivor head to the front line
Iraq’s drive to oust the Islamic State (ISIS) from the city of Mosul - one of its last strongholds in the country - is looking to be long and tough as I write. In a battle being led mainly by armoured Humvees, tanks and a curious assortment of sand-coloured military vehicles, a matt-black armoured Defender cruises along the front-lines behind sand berms, just a few kilometres away from ISIS militants.
The Defender flies the green and white flag of the Badr Brigade, one of the military units that form the country’s Hashid Sahaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, the dirtspattered logo of which is stretched across the bonnet. This Iranian-backed force boasts some 140,000 fighters, mainly Shia Muslims, but with several units made up of Iraq’s minority faiths including Christians and Yazidis. Established in mid-2014 to support the country’s fight against ISIS, the Hashid Shaabi forces were equipped with hundreds of military vehicles, including the Defender.
“This Land Rover has been in every war since it arrived in Iraq in 2003, and we have had it for just over two years,” said driver 28 year-old Khalid proudly. “It was given to us by the government specifically to support the fight against ISIS.”
While the Iraqi Army leads the battle in the eastern districts of Mosul itself, other military battalions are starting to broadly encircle the city, penning militants inside. The Hashid Shaabi forces are fighting on the most inhospitable of these front lines, 70km to the south-west of Mosul, where troops fan out across the flat, dirt terrain of the Iraqi desert. After liberating more than 1,300km of territory and at least 63 villages from ISIS in two months, their mandate is now to cut the road between Mosul and Syria – ISIS’ final supply and escape route from Mosul. To do this, they must face ISIS’ kamikaze fighters, many of whom are adept snipers and militants highly-skilled in making their own IEDS, suicide belts and cars. Armoured vehicles are absolutely essential to this battle.
The Defender’s bodywork is heavily plated to protect the soldiers inside. “This Land Rover’s armour makes it bulletproof against weapons such as Kalashnikovs and BKTS,” explains Khalid. “It’s a tough vehicle.”
The slim windscreen strip of bullet-proof glass bears a smattering of scars left by the bullets from AK47S and shrapnel, proving its resilience in the face of enemy fire. Behind the ordinary rear door, which lacks the same armour-plating as the side doors and panels, stands an internal fully-armoured door. A slightly-crumpled front wing reveals that the engine’s panels are not armour-plated, but a heavy-duty slanted-metal grill is fixed to the front bumper, to protect the engine against incoming fire or shrapnel. Concealed behind the grill lurks the familiar little bonnet-strip Defender logo.
“It also has a good level of protection against other tactics ISIS uses, such as car bombs,” he says. Vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDS) are one of ISIS’ main weapons in this battle. Along these harsh desert frontlines, commanders say ISIS usually send out at least three VBIEDS every day, which hurtle towards Hashid Shaabi
military positions in a trail of dust. But the Iraqi forces have become very adept at spotting and destroying these weapons before they can reach their targets.
Behind a sandy mound on the frontline advancing towards that key Iraq-syria desert road, a cry of “car, car,” alerts soldiers that another VBIED has been spotted, approaching from some distance. Within a few minutes, an Abrams tank rolls out into the field and detonates the carbomb with its second shot, in a huge explosion which sends shrapnel flying. Soldiers jump and cheer, waving their Kalashnikovs in the air, as pieces of torn and burning rubber fall around them, as yet unaware that one of their comrades was killed by a shard of metal from the blast.
The Land Rover offers comparative safety and respite from the dangers of military advances and battles, as well as the unlimited fine dust thrown up by vehicles crossing the harsh Iraqi desert. Considering its present location, the interior of the Defender is in excellent condition, especially compared to the dusty, messy interiors of most of its fellow frontline Humvees. “We value this vehicle a lot, so we look after it,” Khalid says, fondly patting one of the zig-zag patterned seat covers. “This Land Rover can handle anything without problems and, if you look after a vehicle like this, it drives the same now as the day it was made.” He adds that the engine is so robust, it easily copes with the fine layer of sand that perpetually coats it, very rarely needing mechanical assistance.
Once the road between Iraq and Syria is secured, the Hashid Shaabi forces’ Badr Brigade will start closing in on Mosul from a south-westerly direction. It will take a while for them to reach Mosul; they still have one town, numerous
“The biggest battle this Land Rover has seen was Fallujah. Mosul will be the next... ”
villages and 70km of desert to liberate before they reach the city. But their thirst for battle is strong, fuelled by a zeal and determination to permanently rid their country – the birthplace of ISIS – of the global blight the international terror group has become. For them, it is both a practical and ideological battle; to reclaim their country from ISIS’ violent and bloody grasp, and to be able to once again freely follow their own faith.
“The biggest battle this Land Rover has seen so far was Fallujah and the next biggest battle it will take part in is for Mosul,” says Khalid.
ISIS was expelled from Fallujah in June this year, after a three-month offensive, but the liberation of the denselypopulated urban expanse of Mosul is, at this moment, expected to take considerably longer. As the Iraqi Army soldiers advancing into the eastern areas of Mosul are discovering, ISIS militants have prepared a tough defence of sniper-laced streets, where homes and shops have been left rigged with booby-traps and IEDS, and where VBIEDS moving swiftly through residential streets cannot be spotted and destroyed as easily as in the desert.
But for the foreseeable future, the Badr Brigade, along with its matt-black Defender will continue the desert assault. As he prepares to follow today’s advanced frontline line, Khalid says he hates to drive anything else other than the Defender on the battlefield.
“I love this vehicle. It’s absolutely the best and there is no other vehicle in the world like a Land Rover,” he says, climbing into the driver’s seat. His colleague Barak hops on to the bonnet embracing his Kalashnikov, and the Defender drives into the desert behind an enormous cloud of dust.