"I wanted to name her Decisive after the name of the battle, so that she may bring good luck to Iraq in this battle," said her mother, Hind Abed Ali Abbas, at the al-Hayat hospital in central Baghdad.

The mother had suffered severe bleeding early Thursday before being rushed to hospital where she gave birth to the girl, symbolically named Hawassem, or Decisive in Arabic.

Maarakat al-Hawassem, or "Decisive Battle," was the name chosen by Iraq for the conflict unleashed by the United States and Britain on March 20.

The codename flashes up continuously on Iraq's television channel.

SPACE.WIRE