2RHPZ
06-26-2004, 09:09 AM
Does anyone have any additional information on this story?
TWO British special forces commandos escaped capture by Iraqi
forces by trekking up to 100 miles through enemy territory and
desert to the Syrian border.
One of the most stirring escape stories yet to emerge from the
Iraq war ended with the two men being taken into custody by
the Syrians, and the Prime Minister sending a personal envoy
to Damascus to win their release. The Foreign and Commonwealth
Office and the Ministry of Defence refuse to comment on an
episode that had begun with the disastrous ambush of a secret
British mission behind enemy lines, but details divulged to
The Times suggest it was another case of triumph over
adversity. Major Charles Heyman, Editor of Jane’s World
Armies, said: “There’s no doubt whatsover this is the sort of
high standard of evasion of the enemy on the ground we’ve come
to expect of our special forces. It’s still pretty
remarkable.”
Military sources said that on about April 2, in the second
week of the war, a squadron of between 30 and 40 Special Boat
Service commandos were dropped by helicopter into northern
Iraq to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage operations
around Mosul. They split up into patrols, driving Land Rovers.
One of the patrols of about 10 SBS commandos spotted a
suspected Iraqi reconnaissance patrol, but did not open fire
because of doubts over whether it was an Iraqi Army unit or
Kurdish soldiers. That SBS patrol ran into an Iraqi ambush and
came under heavy fire. The commandos were forced to abandon
their vehicles and head off across rough terrain into the
hills. All survived the ambush. An emergency call summoned a
Chinook helicopter to rescue them, but two were missing.
Al-Jazeera television subsequently showed pictures of jubilant
Iraqis jumping on one of the British Land Rovers. Baghdad
claimed that 10 soldiers from the SAS had been killed. The MoD
made a brief statement in which it confirmed that British
soldiers had had to be “extracted” from northern Iraq, but
made no mention of the two missing commandos.
Two SBS men set off for the Syrian border, seeking what a
military source called a “safe haven”. They would have had
desert clothing and hoods, as well as night-vision goggles.
Their survival kit would have included a personal global
positioning system the size of a mobile telephone, a map and
other basics.
They would have travelled by night and hidden by day.
Initially, at least, they would have been crossing country
infested by Iraqi troops guarding oilfields. Later they would
have crossed sparsely-populated desert. Once in Syria, they
were almost certainly picked up by border guards.
April 14 - the day the war effectively ended with the fall of
Tikrit - Tony Blair sent Mike O’Brien, a Foreign Office
minister, to Damascus to exploit Mr Blair’s cordial relations
with President Assad, of Syria, to win the commandos’ release.
They flew home without publicity.
The commandos’ story bears a strong resemblance to the escape
of Chris Ryan, the SAS trooper in the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero
patrol during the 1991 Gulf War.
In that instance the eight-man SAS patrol ran into Iraqi
troops while hunting Scud missiles in Iraq. One was killed in
the subsequent firefight, four were captured and the other
three tried to escape. Two died of hypothermia but Ryan
managed to reach Syria.
Posted 29/04/2003
TWO British special forces commandos escaped capture by Iraqi
forces by trekking up to 100 miles through enemy territory and
desert to the Syrian border.
One of the most stirring escape stories yet to emerge from the
Iraq war ended with the two men being taken into custody by
the Syrians, and the Prime Minister sending a personal envoy
to Damascus to win their release. The Foreign and Commonwealth
Office and the Ministry of Defence refuse to comment on an
episode that had begun with the disastrous ambush of a secret
British mission behind enemy lines, but details divulged to
The Times suggest it was another case of triumph over
adversity. Major Charles Heyman, Editor of Jane’s World
Armies, said: “There’s no doubt whatsover this is the sort of
high standard of evasion of the enemy on the ground we’ve come
to expect of our special forces. It’s still pretty
remarkable.”
Military sources said that on about April 2, in the second
week of the war, a squadron of between 30 and 40 Special Boat
Service commandos were dropped by helicopter into northern
Iraq to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage operations
around Mosul. They split up into patrols, driving Land Rovers.
One of the patrols of about 10 SBS commandos spotted a
suspected Iraqi reconnaissance patrol, but did not open fire
because of doubts over whether it was an Iraqi Army unit or
Kurdish soldiers. That SBS patrol ran into an Iraqi ambush and
came under heavy fire. The commandos were forced to abandon
their vehicles and head off across rough terrain into the
hills. All survived the ambush. An emergency call summoned a
Chinook helicopter to rescue them, but two were missing.
Al-Jazeera television subsequently showed pictures of jubilant
Iraqis jumping on one of the British Land Rovers. Baghdad
claimed that 10 soldiers from the SAS had been killed. The MoD
made a brief statement in which it confirmed that British
soldiers had had to be “extracted” from northern Iraq, but
made no mention of the two missing commandos.
Two SBS men set off for the Syrian border, seeking what a
military source called a “safe haven”. They would have had
desert clothing and hoods, as well as night-vision goggles.
Their survival kit would have included a personal global
positioning system the size of a mobile telephone, a map and
other basics.
They would have travelled by night and hidden by day.
Initially, at least, they would have been crossing country
infested by Iraqi troops guarding oilfields. Later they would
have crossed sparsely-populated desert. Once in Syria, they
were almost certainly picked up by border guards.
April 14 - the day the war effectively ended with the fall of
Tikrit - Tony Blair sent Mike O’Brien, a Foreign Office
minister, to Damascus to exploit Mr Blair’s cordial relations
with President Assad, of Syria, to win the commandos’ release.
They flew home without publicity.
The commandos’ story bears a strong resemblance to the escape
of Chris Ryan, the SAS trooper in the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero
patrol during the 1991 Gulf War.
In that instance the eight-man SAS patrol ran into Iraqi
troops while hunting Scud missiles in Iraq. One was killed in
the subsequent firefight, four were captured and the other
three tried to escape. Two died of hypothermia but Ryan
managed to reach Syria.
Posted 29/04/2003