The First Battle of Fallujah occurred from 4 April to 1 May 2004 when US forces attempted to root out the Iraqi insurgents from the city of Fallujah in the aftermath of the killing and mutilation of four American private military contractors and the killing of five US soldiers in Habbaniyah a few days earlier. The operation, codenamed Operation Vigilant Resolve, failed to clear the city of insurgents, leading ot the Second Battle of Fallujah later that year.
Background[]
Fallujah was one of the most religious and traditionalist cities in Iraq, and many of its residents celebrated Saddam Hussein's downfall following the 2003 invasion of Iraq; the local residents elected a pro-US town council after the overthrow of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The US committed few troops to Fallujah from the start, believing that the city would remain loyal to the Coalition occupation authorities, but the entry of the first US troops on 23 April 2003 and the US takeover of the al-Qa'id primary school for use as a base for a company of paratroopers led to protests by locals who demanded that the Americans vacate the building and re-open the school. The Americans fired gas canisters to disperse the heated crowd, leading to some armed protesters firing on the US soldiers; the Americans fired back and killed 17 protesters and wounded over 70. Two days later, the Americans also fired on demonstrators who had rallied to protest against the earlier shootings, resulting in three more deaths. Soon, the resistance in Fallujah and al-Habaniyya began to build up, and, by March 2004, the city began to fall under the increasing influence of guerrilla factions. The rising violence against the American presence led to US troops evacuating the city, and the city soon became an insurgent stronghold.
Battle[]
The hanging bodies of the killed contractors at Fallujah
On 31 March 2004, a convoy of American private military contractors who were conducting a deliver for the ESS food catering company was ambushed by Iraqi insurgents led by Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi, and the armed contractors Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague were killed by machine-gun fire and a grenade thrown into their SUV. A mob then set their bodies ablaze and hung their burnt corpses from a bridge over the Euphrates River, and the insurgents sent the images to news agencies worldwide, causing moral outrage across the world. The US then announced plans to pacify the city, promising an overwhelming response to the ambush.
On the night of 4 April 2004, 2,000 US troops encircled Fallujah, hitting four homes with airstrikes and sporadically battling the insurgents at night. In the opening days of the battle, up to a third of the civilian population had fled the city, and the Iraqi insurgency spread across Iraq's major cities. The Americans rained air bombardments on insurgent positions across the city, and they also provoked the insurgents by reading scripted inflammatory messages and blasting AC/DC, Metallica, and other loud rock music. After three days of fighting, the US forces had taken over 25% of the city, and, on 9 April, the US implemented a ceasefire in order for humanitarian aid to enter the city. US and insurgent forces both scavenged several houses for use as bunkers, and fighting resumed shortly after. On 13 April, after Iraqi insurgents attacked US soldiers from a mosque, a US airstrike destroyed the mosque, prompting public outcry. Fighting continued until the end of April, and, on 1 May 2004, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway decided to withdraw the US forces and replace them with a CIA-backed Sunni militia, the Fallujah Brigade.
Aftermath[]
Unfortunately for the Americans, the Fallujah Brigade quickly went over to the insurgents, joining the various jihadist and nationalist militias in the town in September 2004 and bringing all of their weapons with them. The First Battle of Fallujah severely altered US public opinion, as it showed that the Iraq War had evolved from a war with the Ba'ath Party into an insurgency against Islamists. After the battle, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Sunni militants began to resist US forces from the "Sunni Triangle", and the US occupation forces finally defeated Zarqawi and recaptured Fallujah in the Second Battle of Fallujah later in 2004.