Text version:MILITARY REVIEW
May 31st, 2025
THE AL-ANBAR QUAGMIRE: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?After destroying most of the Sons of Al-Karbouli within Ramadi and Fallujah in early 2024 and departing soon after, the 506th Infantry Regiment, part of the famed 101st Airborne Division, are slated to return to Iraq to finish the job. This time, they might just find out why the saying “the last 10% of the work takes 90% of the time” exists.
When the Sons of Al-Karbouli (SoAK) were unceremoniously decapitated by the 506th, residents of Ramadi and Fallujah were able to draw their first breaths free of worry for the first time since the civil war began. Unfortunately, the peace was a brittle thing, with splinter factions popping up one after another like mushrooms after rain. The cause was obvious: killing militants, no matter how many, is not the answer for Sunni oppression, which lie at the core of why the civil war erupted.
The SoAK was named after Mohammed Nouri al-Karbouli, a prominent Iraqi politician and Sunni advocate. When Mr. al-Karbouli stepped away from politics due to unclear reasons, the SoAK took this as the Iraqi government squashing Sunni voices at the highest level, and kick-started the civil war in earnest. Mr. al-Karbouli himself has denounced the violent extremists and seem to have gone underground himself - no one has heard of or seen Mr. al-Karbouli since his last public appearance in January of last year.
The swift removal of the SoAK seems to have calmed down the civil war from a boiling pan to a simmering pot, but the immediate appearance of splinter factions seems to suggest that the SoAK’s demise was apparent from the very beginning when they picked a head-on fight against the U.S. military. It is highly likely that these new factions’ leaders are lieutenants within the SoAK who saw the writing on the wall, and elected to stay behind the front lines for a swift power grab when the militant organization's leadership crumbled.
There are now at least five known splinter factions, each with their own capabilities and goals. While these factions, even when combined, can not match the SoAK’s military power, the newly decentralised sub-factions are no doubt harder to keep track of and eliminate, especially in the much larger region of Anizay.
When reached for comment, the U.S. Defense Secretary stated, “I have the utmost confidence in the capabilities of the men and women of the 101st Airborne to root out and destroy these terrorist organisations, and to restore the Iraqi people’s confidence in their government once and for all.”
Despite the U.S. military’s familiarity with counter-insurgency operations, experts have agreed that the situation in Anizay, Iraq has a high likelihood of devolving at a rapid pace, especially with foreign machinations at play.
AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION BY 1-506th S-2Written By: 1LT Jae Lee
Reviewed and Edited By: 1LT Jae Lee
The entirety of this document represents fictional works of the 506th Infantry Regiment Realism Unit, S-2 Intelligence Shop, developed for use within the Arma Reforger military simulation video games, and exists purely for entertainment and educational purposes only. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
