The Battle of Ifoghas, also known as the Battle of Tigharghâr or the Battle of the Ametettai, took place from 18 February to 31 March 2013, during the Northern Mali conflict. The French army and the Chadian army fought armed Salafist jihadist groups led by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine. After being defeated in January in the Battle of Konna and the Battle of Diabaly, the jihadists abandoned Timbuktu and retreated into the Adrar Tigharghar, a mountain of the Adrar of Ifoghas in northeastern Mali, which has been their sanctuary for years. The French started quickly a pursuit, and they took control of the towns of Tessalit and Aguelhok and begun the operation Panther in the Tigharghar. The first clashes erupt on February 18 and are mainly concentrated in the Ametettai Valley. It is caught between two armored columns, one French to the west and another Chadian to the east, while the paratroopers manage to surprise the jihadists by attacking on foot from the north. The valley is taken on March 3 and jihadists begin to gradually abandon the Tigharghar. Excavation missions and some skirmishes, however, continue to take place the following days. The operations cease on March 31. The battle was a turning point in the war, as with the capture of the Tigharghar, the jihadists lose their main sanctuary in the Sahel as well as most of their military arsenal, taken from the Malian army or Libya .
Deployment of Franco-Chadian forces in the Kidal region
The evening of January 29, 2013, a flight of helicopters, including two Tigers, a Gazelle and four Puma reach Kidal airport and disembark 30 French soldiers of the CPA-10 and the Penfentenyo commando against MNLA pick-ups. They are followed by three planes landing men of 1 RPIMa and Commando de Montfort. The officer in charge of the French special forces then meets Colonel Mohamed Ag Najem, commander-in-chief of the MNLA's military wing. The French then settle in one of the two military camps of the city and begin their cohabitation with the Tuareg rebels, but unlike Gao, Timbuktu, and the southern cities where they had been celebrated as liberators, in Kidal the French are seen as the vanguard of the Malian army and the reception of the population is much colder. But the goal of the French army, at that time, remains the Tigharghar . From the end of January, the surroundings of the Adrar are bombarded by Rafale. Then on the evening of February 2, a first mass air raid struck the interior of the mountain; four Mirage and four Rafale destroy twelve objectives, supported by three Atlantic, a Harfang drone, an AWACS and Tiger helicopters. The raid mainly targets the area known as the "Garage", west of Ametettai, where two BMP-1 armored vehicles have been located, as well as an anti-aircraft battery that was probably inoperative. On 1 February, a column of fifteen vehicles of the MNLA and thirty men from the French Special Forces leave Kidal to conduct a joint operation towards the Adrar Tigharghar . The night of 2 to 3, the French and the Tuaregs separate. The first pursued towards the valley of Assamalmal, targeted a few hours earlier by the air strikes. On the spot, the balance sheet is rather thin, no body nor destroyed vehicle is discovered, only a stock of gasoline and some motorcycles were swept by the bombs. The Touareg rebels, meanwhile, take control of the town of Aguelhok where the French come back from Assamalmal to join them. The population, strongly hostile to jihadists, welcomes newcomers. The MNLA captured some suspects and discovered several hundred kilos of ammunition, which he then handed over to the French forces as a sign of goodwill. France was also seeking the help of Chad's President Idriss Déby. He agreed to deploy his army in the Adrar of Ifoghas. On February 3, the first Chadian soldiers arrived in Kidal. On the night of February 7 to 8, the French special forces lead Operation Takouba on Tessalit. Thirty men from the 13 th RDP, CPA-10, a marine CTLO and the ESNO are parachuted near the airport. They spot a piece of runway where two C-160 Transall can land and land four vehicles and a few more men. From Aguel'hoc, the 30 soldiers - mainly from the 1st RPIMa - who had led the reconnaissance mission in the Assamalmal valley are also moving on Tessalit. In the morning, the special forces make their junction and enter the city without encountering any resistance. A few hours later, from Kidal, the Chadians of General Deby arrived on their turn after passing through Aguel'hoc. Then, 54 soldiers of the 1st RCP are deposited by a third plane. Finally, a sub-GTIA party from Gao, consisting mainly of soldiers from 1 RIMa and forming a column of 90 vehicles, arrives at the scene and invests the military camp of Amachach. On February 13, the Special Forces made a first foray into the Tigharghar during Operation Tazidert, whose goal is to find a record of the Western hostages held by AQIM. They infiltrate the "camp of the sands" and the "camp of the rocks", but find no trace of the hostages, or - to their surprise - jihadists. The operation ends on February 16. At the same time, GTIA 4 unfolds in the far north. 400 French soldiers are present in Tessalit on February 12. The first patrols, dubbed Panther 0 and Panther I, take place between Tessalit and the Tigharghar, but they encounter nothing.
Order of Battle
Islamist coalition forces
Adrar Tigharghar was mainly the territory of AQIM and Ansar Dine, while MUJAO was more established in the region of Gao. However elements of the Signatories by the blood and Boko Haram were also present in the Adrar. Mercenaries from the Polisario Front also reportedly took part in the fighting despite the denials of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Jihadist forces in Tigharghar were estimated at between 400 and 600 men. For the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DRM) the number of their fighters would be about 500. The Tuareg Islamists of Ansar Dine were led by their leader, Iyad Ag Ghali. On March 26, the movement said in a statement that it is continuing the fighting in northern Mali. Ag Ghali knows the region well, Adrar Tigharghar was already his base during the Tuareg rebellions, when he commanded the Popular Movement of Azawad. Among the other Ansar Dine chiefs present in the Adrar was Ibrahim Ag Inawalen, commander of the region of Aguel'hoc and former colonel of the Malian army. "Emir of the Sahara", Djamel Okacha, known as "Yahia Abu el-Hammam", the leader of the AQIM forces in Mali, according to a jihadist source of the Sahara Medias agency, he took part in the battle. Four brigade or katiba chiefs were subordinated to him. Abu Zeid, the emir of the katiba "Tarek Ibn Ziyad", participated in the battle. The presence of Abdelkrim al-Targui, chief of the katiba "al-Ansar" and Sedane Ag Hita, called "Abu Abdel Hakim al-Kidali", who commanded the katiba "Youssef Ibn Tachfin" were also possibly fought, as the area of Tigharghar being considered their domain. On the other hand, Mohamed Lemine Ould El-Hassen, emir of the katiba "al-Fourghan", was killed on 24 February by the French special forces during the Battle of Timetrine. In their radio communications, Islamist insurgents routinely nicknamed the French "dogs" and Chadians or helicopters as "flies". Excellent fighters with light weapons and with real military training, jihadists were much less skilled with heavy weapons, they include guns, SA-7 ground-to-air missiles or RPG -rocket launcher 29 which they do not know how to use. In comparison with the Taliban, which the French also faced in Afghanistan, the jihadists of Mali were considered better organized and more tenacious, able to sacrifice themselves while the Afghan insurgents used to flee to limit the losses. In contrast, FDIs were at this time less used than in Afghanistan and were generally poorly manufactured. Some fighters, including child soldiers, have also used drugs to support the shock of fighting, bags will be found near corpses including ketamine, an anesthetic that inhibits fear and erases pain.
French forces
French forces were divided into two Combat Task Forces (GTIA); each with more than 700 men.
The GTIA 3 was commanded by Colonel Francois-Marie Gougeon 101 and is composed of companies and sections from the following regiments:
- 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment ( 2nd RIMA)
- Marine Infantry Tank Regiment (RICM)
- 126th Infantry Regiment ( 126th IR)
- 11th Marine Artillery Regiment ( 11th Ra'A)
- 6th Engineer Regiment ( 6th GR)
GTIA 4, also known as GTIA TAP (airborne troops), was commanded by Colonel Benoît Desmeulles 102 and consists of companies and sections from the following regiments:
- 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 1st and 2nd Companies as well as GCP (2 REP)
- 1st regiment of paratroopers ( 1 RCP) a company
- 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment ( 1st RHP)
- 1st Marine Infantry Regiment ( 1st RIMA)
- 126th Infantry Regiment ( 126th IR)
- 35th Parachuteist Artillery Regiment ( 35th RAP)
- 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment ( 17 th RGP)
- 31st Regiment of Engineering ( 31st GR)
The Joint Air Group (GAM) was commanded by Colonel Frederic Gout and consisted of aircraft of the 5th Combat Helicopter Regiment ( 5th RHC). It included five Puma, three Gazelle and two Tiger helicopters based at Tessalit.
On the side of the air force, eight Rafale based in N'Djamena and six Mirage 2000D based in Bamako take turns bombing the Tigharghar. For the aerial reconnaissance, Operation Serval mobilized five Atlantique 2 and two Mirage F1 CRs. It also has a Harfang drone 108.
For the vehicles, 22 AMX-10 RC tanks are engaged in the battle 109 and for the two Caesar artillery of the 11th Marine Artillery Regiment ( 11th RAMa) are deployed and supported by an intelligence battery of 68 African Artillery Regiment ( 68th RAA).
Supply between Gao and Tessalit is provided by a logistic detachment of the 511th Train Regiment ( 511 th RT). The 9th Advanced Surgical Antenna, initially based in Sévaré, is deployed in Tessalit. The command of the land operations is assured by Brigadier General Bernard Barrera. A forward command post is established in Tessalit on 12 February . This staff, called the G08, is under the leadership of Colonel Laurent de Bertier de Sauvigny and Xavier Vanden Neste and is made up of about forty to fifty people from the 11th Parachute Brigade, a few officers of the 3rd Light Armored Brigade were soon amalgamated to form a centralized command post. The special forces and the DGSE set up in Kidal where they have a helicopter base, their mission being to locate the jihadist leaders and the hostages. The special forces are autonomous, they act without coordinating with the Serval brigade and do not come under the command of General Barrera. 1,200 French soldiers take part initially in the operation Panthère, at the end of the fighting their number is 1,400 . The majority of French soldiers engaged in battle have combat experience, most of them participated in the Afghanistan war, some even in the Gulf War . In addition to Afghanistan, the air forces also took part in Operation Harmattan in Libya . Many infantry have already experienced extreme heat similar to that of Tigharghâr in the FFDj Djibouti.
Chadian forces
On February 5, 1,800 Chadian soldiers were in Kidal. Their numbers changed during the fighting. In February, 800 men took part in the offensive on the Ametettai Valley, in mid-March 1,400 to 1,500 Chadian soldiers were deployed in the Adrar Tigharghâr. They had more than a hundred armored vehicles, including about ten BMP-1s 128. The elite troops of the presidential guard form the spearhead of this force, 500 of its members have been integrated into the contingent deployed in Mali. Troops of the National Guard and Nomad of Chad (GNNT) and the Close Action Detachment (DAR) were also engaged in the Adrar. Chadian forces in Mali were commanded by General Oumar Bikimo. The second command, initially ensured by General Abderrahmane Youssouf Meïri, passes from mid-February to General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, son of President Idriss Déby. From 2005 to 2010, the Chadian army fought hard during the Chadian civil war. Its soldiers, most of whom are of Zaghawa ethnicity, are accustomed to the climate and fighting in the desert and are considered to be by far the most experienced and seasoned African forces deployed in Mali.