Combat· Afghanistan War (Op ENDURING FREEDOM)
Operation Cobra's Anger
Operation Cobra's Anger was a Marine offensive in the Now Zad valley of Helmand Province, an assault to clear a long-abandoned and heavily mined Taliban stronghold that had become a ghost town, its population driven out by years of fighting.
The Marines launched a combined air and ground assault into the valley, using helicopter-borne forces and a breach of the insurgents' defensive belt to drive into territory the enemy had held and seeded with improvised explosive devices. The operation aimed to disrupt the insurgent base, clear the deadly minefields, and open the way for a return of stability to a district that had been emptied by the war. Cobra's Anger was one of the opening operations of the intensified Marine effort in Helmand, pushing into one of the province's most entrenched insurgent havens. It set the stage for the further clearing of the Now Zad area as the Marine campaign in Helmand expanded.
Record no. 75