Penampakan T-72 Asad Babil terlihat saat Irak melakukan manuver pertahanan di Baghdad yang mana ini merupakan pertahanan terakhir dari pemerintahan rezim Baath di irak. Namun saat pertahanan jebol di baghdad dan Saddam kabur tank-tank ini ada yang dihancurkan dan juga adayang di museum kan di salah satu museum di amerika serikat yaitu di Fort Hood.
==Fate==
The last operational Lions were destroyed by the successive waves of American armored incursions on the Iraqi capital<ref>{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2003/iraq-030405-rfel-164725.htm |title=GlobalSecurity.org |publisher=GlobalSecurity.org |date=2003-04-05 |accessdate=2013-02-03}}</ref> or abandoned by their crews after the fall of Baghdad, several of them without firing a single shot. The derelict tanks were later scrapped by [[U.S. Army]] disposal teams or shipped to the [[United States]] for target practice.
Two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the new [[Iraqi Government]] acquired dozens of refitted T-72M1s from [[Hungary]], in order to equip an armored brigade. The headquarters of this new [[Iraqi Army]] unit is located in Taji, so there may still remain some maintenance facilities from the production of Lions. Some surviving T-72s are used for training, and the experience of Iraqi Army officers and crews with the Lion was one of the reasons behind the choice Hungarian T-72M1s.<ref>{{cite news |first=Sgt. Lorie |last=Jewell |date=November 2005 |url=http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/nov2005/a111405tj1.html |title=Iraqi Army Takes Delivery of Tanks, Vehicles |publisher=Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq |work=defendamerica.mil |quote=Many of the division's soldiers drove T-72 tanks in the old Iraqi Army, so they are familiar with operating and maintaining them, leaders said. A handful of the tanks remain at Taji and are used for training purposes.}}</ref>
