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Operation Phantom Fury

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Operation Al-Fajr ("The Dawn" in Arabic), also known as Operation Phantom Fury—and sometimes referred to as the Battle of Fallujah, or Second Battle of Fallujah in comparison to Operation Vigilant Resolve—was a joint U.S.-Iraqi offensive against rebel strongholds in the city of Fallujah, authorized by the U.S.-appointed Iraq interim government. The U.S. military called it "some of the heaviest urban combat Marines and Army infantry soldiers have been involved in since Vietnam." [link]

It was the second major operation in Fallujah; in April, Operation Vigilant Resolve was an abortive attempt to capture the city. That earlier operation was terminated when local leaders promised to curb the rebels.

It was immediately followed by Operation Plymouth Rock.

Contents

Timeline

Fallujah was one of the most peaceful areas of the country just after the fall of Saddam. There was very little looting and the new mayor of the city — Taha Bidaywi Hamed, selected by local tribal leaders — was staunchly pro-American.

Preparation for the battle

Before beginning their attack, American and Iraqi forces established checkpoints around the city to prevent anyone from entering the city and detect insurgents attempting to flee.

In addition overhead imagery was used to prepare maps of the city for use by the attackers. American units were augmented with Iraqi translators to assist them in the planned fight.

Conduct of the battle

Ground operations began on the night of November 7, 2004 with the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion attacking from the west and south, capturing Fallujah General Hospital without firing a shot. The capture and closure of the hospital caused much controversy, concerning whether or not it was a contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The same unit, operating under the command of the U.S. III Corps then moved on the western approaches to the city securing the Jurf Kas Sukr Bridge. It now seems that these attacks were a diversion.

American units consisting of four Marine Light Infantry battalions, and two Army Mechanized Cavalry battalions (with a Large number of non-fighting american units following in trace) launched their attack along a broad front, jumping off from behind the railroad line that runs along the northern edge of the city. By daylight on November 8, the main train station had fallen to American troops. By the afternoon, troops had entered the Hay Naib al-Dubat and al-Naziza districts. Shortly after nightfall on November 9, Marines were along Highway 10 in the center of the city. By dawn on the 13th most of the city was in American hands.

By November 16, after nine days of fighting, the Americans described the action as mopping up pockets of resistance, but sporadic fighting continued until December 23.

The AP reported that military-age males attempting to flee the city were turned back by the U.S. Military.[link]

On November 16, NBC News aired footage that showed an American Marine (with 3rd Battalion 1st Marines) shooting dead a wounded Iraqi. The Marine was heard exclaiming that the Iraqi was "playing possum". U. S. Navy investigators NCIS later determined that the Marine was acting in self-defense. [link].

By late January 2005, news reports indicated American combat units were leaving the area, and were assisting the local population in returning to their city.

U.S. soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division prepare to enter and clear a building during fighting in Fallujah.
Enlarge
U.S. soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division prepare to enter and clear a building during fighting in Fallujah.

Aftermath of the battle

The city suffered extensive damage. Before the war, it was estimated that the city had 200 mosques. Some claim 60 of these had been destroyed in the fighting. Perhaps half the homes suffered at least some damage. About 7,000 to 10,000 of the roughly 50,000 buildings in the town are estimated to have been destroyed in the offensive ([link], [link]), and half to two-thirds of the buildings have suffered notable damage. It is also reported that 66 out of the city's 133 mosques were discovered holding significant amounts of insurgent weapons [link], a violation of Article 16 of the Geneva Convention. [link]

[News reports] indicate 92 Americans were killed in the fighting. Iraqi casualty figures are unreliable as an unknown number of residents fled before the fighting. [Reliable news reports] indicate that 1,200 insurgents were killed and another 1,000 were captured. Also the Iraqi military suffered eight soldiers killed and 43 wounded.

Pre-offensive inhabitant figures are unreliable; the nominal population was assumed to have been 200,000-350,000. Thus, over 150,000 individuals are still living as internally displaced persons elsewhere in Iraq.

Residents were allowed to return in mid-December after undergoing biometric identification, provided they wear their ID cards all the time. Reconstruction is only progressing slowly and mainly consists of clearing rubble from heavily-damaged areas and reestablishing basic utilities. This is also due to the fact that only 10% of the pre-offensive inhabitants had returned as of mid-January, and only 30% as of the end of March 2005 [link].

Since the US military operation of November 2004, the number of insurgent attacks has gradually increased in and around the city, and although news reports are often few and far between, several reports of IED attacks on Iraqi troops have been reported in the press. Most notable of these attacks, was a suicide car bomb attack on 23 June 2005 on a convoy that killed 6 Marines. Thirteen other Marines were injured in the attack.

White phosphorus controversy

On 9 November, 2005 the Italian state-run broadcaster RAI ran a documentary titled "Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre" depicting what it alleges was the United States' use of white phosphorus (WP) in the attack causing insurgents and civilians to be killed or injured by chemical burns . The effects of WP are very characteristic. The resulting bodies were partially turned into what appears to be ash, but sometimes the hands of the bodies had skin or skin layers peeled off and hanging like gloves instead. The documentary further claims that the United States used incendiary MK-77 bombs (similar to napalm). The use of incendiary weapons against civilians is illegal by Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (1980), however the US is not a signatory. Moreover, the 1983 Chemical Weapons Convention (signed by the US) prohibit the use of the chemical properties of white phosphorus against personnel. The documentary stated:

"WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out... We used improved WP for screening missions when HC smoke would have been more effective and saved our WP for lethal missions."
The US State Department initially denied using white phosphorus as a munition, a claim later contradicted by the Department of Defense when bloggers discovered a US Army magazine had run a story detailing its use in Fallujah. The US government maintains its denial of use against civilians, while trying to justify the offensive use of WP against enemy combatants. However, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, quoted by the RAI documentary, WP is allowed as an illumination device, not as an offensive weapon, for which its chemical properties are put to use. An article in Washington Post exactly [a year before] also pointed out the use of White Phosphorus in the battle, but attracted little attention.

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Participating units

Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1) built around the 1st Marine Regiment:

Regimental Combat Team 7 (RCT-7) built around the 7th Marine Regiment: 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division

Iraqi Forces

See also

External links

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