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Which Iraqi forces provided the strongest resistance in southern Iraq in 2003?
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Iraq War
U.S. soldiers in Sāmarrāʾ, Iraq.
During the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq, the strongest resistance encountered by coalition forces in the south came from irregular groups of Baʿath Party supporters known as Saddam’s Fedayeen.1
While many regular Iraqi troops chose not to resist the coalition advance, these paramilitary and irregular fighters provided the most significant opposition to U.S. forces moving northward and to British forces deployed around the city of Basra.1