First Battle of Fallujah

First Battle of Fallujah
Part of the Iraq War
A U.S. Marine from the 1st Marine Division mans an M240G machine gun outside the Fallujah city limits in April 2004.
Date 4 April – 1 May 2004 (3 weeks and 6 days) Location Fallujah, Iraq Result Insurgent victory
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom	Al-Qaeda in Iraq Islamic Army in Iraq Ba'ath Party loyalists Other Sunni insurgents
Commanders and leaders
James T. Conway James Mattis John A. Toolan	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Units involved
I Marine Expeditionary Force 82nd Airborne Division 101st Airborne Division 3rd Cavalry Regiment 10th Mountain Division 1st Infantry Division 5th Special Forces Group Delta Force Blackwater USA	Islamic Army in Iraq Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
Strength
10,000+[1]	3,600[1]
Casualties and losses
27 killed[2][3]	184–228 killed (Iraq Body Count)[4][5][2]
572–616 civilians killed (Iraq Body Count)[4][5]

The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004.

The chief catalyst for the operation was the highly publicized killing and mutilation of four Blackwater USA private military contractors,^[6] and the killings of five American soldiers in Habbaniyah a few days earlier.^[7]

The battle, and especially the images of Iraqi civilians killed or injured in the fighting, caused many Iraqis to become resentful of the US presence. Western journalists found that even some Iraqis who previously supported the US invasion, and welcomed American state-building efforts, became increasingly alienated and skeptical of such promises.^[8]