Multi-National Division (South-East) (Iraq)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Multi-National Division (South-East) (MND(SE)) is a British commanded division responsible for security in the south east of Iraq. It is responsible for the large city of Basra and its headquarters is located at the city's airport.

In aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq the British 1st Armoured Division and 3rd Mechanised Division were successively responsible for the command and control of the occupation forces in south east Iraq. After 3rd Mechanised Division's tour of duty came to an end it was replaced by the composite headquarters of MND(SE). Since then the division has been made up primarily of British units with other nations in support. Most of the combat firepower of the division has been centred around the British brigade group deployed at the time and the division also contained an Italian brigade for a period.

The area around Basra has been much quieter than the American occupation zone further north but there have been a significant number of incidents in which forces of the division have been killed. It is the current aim of the division to hand over all responsibility for security to Iraqi forces, although it is unclear how long this process will take.

1 Order of Battle
2 See also

[edit] Order of Battle

In the months following the end of the invasion, the division expanded to include UK, Italian, Japanese, Australian, Romanian, Danish, Portuguese, Czech and Lithuanian troops. As of February 2007, the Australians, Romanians, Danes, Czechs and Lithuanians remain (see Multinational Force in Iraq for further information). The UK itself has about 5,500 personnel currently serving in Iraq, separated into the following battlegroups, as of 1st June 2007: