User:Phillip West7/sandbox

Operation Desert Lion began on 27 March 2003 when the United States Central Command gave the statement stating, "Operation Desert Lion kicked off Thursday when coalition task force 82 conducted an air assault into the Kohe Safi Mountains in northeastern Afghanistan." . On the second day of the operation, soldiers from the U.S. 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment and 82nd Airborne Division launched the operation in the Kohe Safi Mountains and surrounding areas in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan, near Bagram Air Base. Their mission was to hunt for supplies and clear the various cave systems in the mountains of remaining members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The action began with soldiers debouching from Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters. The soldiers found two caches of weapons that included 122 cases of 12.7 mm machine gun ammunition, 72 112 mm mortar rounds, 100 82 mm mortar rounds, 107 mm rockets, and 40 82 mm recoil-less rifle rounds just five kilometers from the air base. Disposal experts blew up the caches in place. On March 29th, 2003, forces engaged in Operation Desert Lion received air support from two Norwegian F -16 fighter bombers flying on a routine patrol over the area. Operation Desert Lion was concluded on 30 March 2003.[1] A few days later in the Urgun providence of Afghanistan, soldiers from Coalition task force 82 revisited the surrounding area and found another supply, which included multiple cases of 14.5 mm and 12.7 mm machine gun ammunition, 22 82 mm fuses, 17 rocket propelled grenade boosters, 24 82 mm mortar rounds, 15 82 mm recoil-less rifle rounds, and powder-based explosives. Combined Joint Task Force 180 spokeswoman Capt. Alayne Cramer said that coalition troops had searched the area before, and it is known that this operation was apart of the United State's second major operation in Afghanistan. "Intelligence sources and tips from local Afghans suggested we revisit the area," Cramer said.

Additionally, this operation was launched at nearly the same time as Operation Valiant Strike in Iraq, which also had a similar objective and proved to be very successful as well.