YUSUFIYAH

'Yusufiyah' (also transliterated as 'Yusafiyah', 'Youssifiyah' or 'Yusifiyah', occasionally prefixed with 'Al-') is a regional township in the country of Iraq, located in Babylon Province, approximately 40 kilometers southwest of the capital, Baghdad. It is approximately 100 kilometers east of Fallujah, 10 kilometers west of the large city of Mahmudiyah, and 15 kilometers northwest of the town of Latifiyah. Together, Yusufiyah, Mahmudiyah, and Latifiyah form an area known as the "Triangle of Death" due to the high numbers of IEDs, sniper, and mortar/rocket attacks. Yusufiyah is similar in name to the area known as Sadr al Yusufiyah, which is a larger, more urban area near a Russian Thermal power plant, approximately 25 kilometers west-northwest of the town of Yusufiyah. A major canal, known as the Yusufiyah canal, runs from Sadr al Yusufiyah in the west, through Yusufiyah, and south to Latifiyah. Yusufiyah is an area of interest to Sunni insurgents because it is along the route of travel between North Babylon and Al Anbar Province, with its control allowing the free movement of Sunni insurgent forces south of Baghdad.

Contents

Architecture

Demographics

Units

See Also

External Links

Architecture

The town of Yusufiyah is around 200 buildings, with less than ten buildings that are over five stories tall. There are at least three mosques within Yusufiyah itself, and at least one in each nearby village. The vast majority of buildings in Yusufiyah are one or two story brick and cement structures with shops on the first floor and apartments on the second or third floors.

Demographics

The populace within the semi-urban area of Yusufiyah is predominantly Shiite, with a number of Sunni tribes (including the Sunni Qarghouli tribe, near the Jifr Sukr Bridge) located in the smaller villages to the south and west. The smaller villages nearby include Mulla Fayad (approximately 2km southwest of Yusufiyah) and Rushdi Mullah (approximately 8km west of Yusufiyah). Agriculture is the main form of employment, with some retail and industrial shops within the town itself.

Units

Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Yusufiyah has been continuously occupied by various US forces. Since 2004, this includes a US Marine Corps infantry company of 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 4th Marine Division, replaced in February 2005 by US Army Alpha Company, 1-41 Infantry (attached to 2-70 Armor, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division), replaced in June 2005 by a US Army infantry company from the Georgia National Guard's 48th Brigade Combat Team, replaced in October 2005 by an Air Assault company (B/1-502 INF) from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and currently a Mountain infantry company from the 10th Infantry Division (Mountain). According to information provided by icasualties.org, Coalition Forces have experienced at least 40 killed and several hundred wounded in operations in the Yusufiyah area since March 2003.
The old US Forward Operating Base in Yusufiyah was named FOB Saint Joseph, in keeping with the theme established by FOB Saint Michael in Mahmudiyah. In June 2005, FOB Saint Joseph was closed down and US and Iraqi Security Forces moved to a collocated FOB on the edge of town, known as the "Potato Factory" or "Camp Richardson" in honor of A/1-41's Corporal Dean Richardson who died in a firefight in the vicinity of Yusufiyah on 4/03/2005. On February 5th, 2006, the "Camp Richardson" side of the FOB burned to the ground, and US forces were forced to move into tentage (in the case of the Air Assault Infantry Company) or co-locate in rooms with Iraqi Army soldiers inside the remaining building of potato factory complex (as in the case of the MITT Team). It is now known simply as "FOB Yusufiyah".
Currently, an Iraqi Army Battalion (4th Battalion of the 6th Brigade of the 6th Iraqi Army Division) occupies the Potato Factory in Yusufiyah. The US military is gradually ceding control to the Iraqi security forces.

See Also

★ Triangle of Death (Iraq)

External Links