- Sunni Triangle
The Sunni Triangle is a densely-populated region of
Iraq to the northwest ofBaghdad that is inhabited mostly by SunniMuslim Arab s.The roughly triangular area's corners are usually said to lie near
Baqubah (on the east side of the triangle),Baghdad (on the South side),Ramadi (on the west side) andTikrit (on the north side). Each side is approximately 125 miles long. The area also contains the cities ofSamarra andFallujah .The area was a center of strong support for former Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein 's government; starting in the 1970s many government workers, politicians, and military leaders came from the area. Saddam himself was born just outside Tikrit.After the
2003 invasion of Iraq , the area became a focus of armed Sunni opposition to Coalition rule. It was widely predicted in the Western press that Saddam would seek shelter from Sunni supporters and onDecember 13 ,2003 , he was captured in a raid on the village ofad-Dawr about 15km south of Tikrit.The term "Sunni triangle" was used intermittently from the 1970s among academic Iraq specialists, usually to differentiate it from the northern and southern parts of the country. An early use in mainstream media is a "San Francisco Chronicle" article of
September 14 ,2002 in which formerUnited Nations weapons inspectorScott Ritter says: "We may be able to generate support for an invasion among some of the Shiites and some of the Kurds, but to get to Baghdad you must penetrate the Sunni Triangle." However, it did not achieve widespread use until a "New York Times" article ofJune 10 ,2003 popularised the term in a report on "a new U.S. effort to quell nascent armed resistance in Sunni Muslim-dominated areas north and west of Baghdad [in an] area known as the 'Sunni triangle'." It has since become virtually ubiquitous in reports on the US-led coalition's efforts to control the region.The "Sunni Triangle" should not be confused with the so-called "Triangle of Death," an area south of
Baghdad inhabited by Sunni majority which was the focus of major combat activity in November and December 2004.See also
*
Operation Red Dawn
*Operation Vigilant Resolve
*Operation Phantom Fury
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