Italian involvement in the Iraq War

Italian involvement in the Iraq War
	Part of Iraq War
	; Italian Army personnel depart Tallil Air Base, Iraq for an early morning convoy escort duty on 28 April 2005
Date	15 July 2003 – 1 December 2006
Location	Mostly Nasiriyah, Iraq
Result	Italian Operational Success
Belligerents
Mahdi Army Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad	Italy; Romania; Portugal
Commanders and leaders
Muqtada al-Sadr; Aws al-Khafaji Abu Musab al-Zarqawi †	Italian brigade commanders
Units involved
Mahdi Army Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad	Italian brigade Romanian infantry battalion and military police company; Portuguese military police units;
Strength
Unknown	c. 3,200 Italian soldiers; c. 574 Romanian soldiers (420 army, 116 military police, 8 staff officers);
Casualties and losses
Unknown, but high	36 Italian casualties; 1 Romanian casualty

Operation Ancient Babylon (Italian: Operazione Antica Babilonia) was the code name given to the deployment of Italian forces during the Iraq War. Their mission lasted from 15 July 2003 to 1 December 2006. The troops were located in and around Nasiriyah.

Italy lost 36 soldiers during the mission, half of them in the 2003 Nasiriyah bombing against the Carabinieri Multinational Specialized Unit base. Italian forces were assisted by Portuguese and Romanian troops.