Battle of Husaybah
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| Battle of Husaybah | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Post-invasion Iraq | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| United States | Iraqi insurgents | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,000 | 300 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 5 KIA, 9 WIA | 150 killed, 20 captured | ||||||
| Iraq War |
|---|
| Phases Invasion – Post-invasion (Insurgency – Civil War) Engagements |
The Battle of Ramadi was fought in the spring of 2004 during the same time as the First Battle of Fallujah. In April of 2004, Fallujah was under siege by United States Marines and insurgents were looking to relieve pressure on the city by atempting an offensive of there own. Ten days before the highway connecting Al Anbar to Baghdad was cut and the insurgents attacked the capital of the province, Ramadi. The attack was repulsed by the Marines and the battle resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. Now the insurgents were ready for another attack, on the city of Husaybah on the Syrian border.
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[edit] The Battle
An estimated 300 Iraqis from Fallujah and Ramadi launched an assault against the Americans in Husaybah around 8 a.m. local time, beginning with a roadside bombing and a flurry of 24 mortars. When Marines responded to the bombing, they were met with small-arms and machine-gun fire as they neared a former Ba'ath Party headquarters. They immediately called for a quick reaction force to help them. Marines responding to the call for help were mortared and strafed as they made their way into the city. The quick reaction force platoon dismounted their vehicles and began patrolling the streets. They spent the rest of the day fighting block by block. They started taking fire from two-story buildings. The platoon continued to push north along a street known to the Marines as "East End Street." As they drove down the street, insurgents would come out of a house and they would lay down fire at them. They continued north, all the way collecting insurgents and weapons in the back of the hummers. They got to one house that the insurgents were using as a stronghold, pulled into a alleyway behind the house and waited for the rest of the platoon. The Marines used a school as a rally point to take the house. The entire time while fighting the insurgents in the house, the Marines were taking fire from every other direction. Heavy machine gun and RPG fire was coming from the insurgents inside the house and the Marines were starting to take on casualties. In addition to the small-arms fire, three rockets were fired at the house. However, the insurgents would not leave the house. The platoon decided to smoke the insurgents out of the house. All nine insurgents from inside the house were eventually killed. The house would later be called by the Marines as "The Crack House". The unit continued to push through the hostile town, all the while collecting weapons and detainees as well as wounded Marines. They would meet the rest of the battalion on Market Street. Fighting continued late into the night as Marine Cobra helicopter gunships strafed enemy positions near a downtown soccer stadium and Marine helicopters continued to take wounded to their main base 22 miles away at Camp Al-Qaim. All of the Marines were killed in the first hour of the fighting, four of them when they went to clear out "The Crack House" where Iraqi fighters were hiding. The battalion commander, Colonel Matthew Lopez, said he believed the Marines had crushed the insurgents' attack. I don't think they expected us to retaliate as hard as we did,".[1][2]
[edit] Aftermath
As many as five Marines were killed and scores of insurgent Iraqis slain in the fierce 14-hour battle. Another 9 Marines were wounded and 20 insurgents captured.
