During the Aug. 14 transfer of authority ceremony at the Iraqi army compound in Mahmudiyah, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, transferred to the Iraqi brigade known as the “Desert Lion” absolute responsibility for security of a region that includes roughly 322 square kilometers in southern Iraq. Many refer to the area as the “triangle of death.”
Local sheiks, community leaders and senior military leaders who worked closely with the Iraqi unit throughout the past 11 months were also in attendance during the hour-long ceremony, which included a pass in review and a demonstration of combat tactics by Iraqi soldiers.