First Battle of Fallujah

First Battle of Fallujah (Operation Vigilant Resolve)
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 US operational failure
Belligerents
United States	Ba'athists Sunni insurgents Al Qaeda in Iraq
Commanders and leaders
James T. Conway James Mattis	Omar Hadid (Islamist commander) Abdullah al-Janabi (Islamist preacher) Abu Ayyub al-Masri Zafer Ubaidi (Islamist preacher) Omar Jumaa, AQI jurist
Units involved
82nd Airborne Division 101st Airborne Division U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment 10th Mountain Division I Marine Expeditionary Force 1st Infantry Division 5th Special Forces Group 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta 1st Battalion 32nd Infantry Blackwater USA	Islamic Army of Iraq al-Qaeda in Iraq Mujahideen Chechen volunteers
Strength
2,200	3,600
Casualties and losses
27 killed	184–228 killed
572–616 civilians killed
Location within Iraq

Ba'athists
Sunni insurgents

James T. Conway

Omar Hadid (Islamist commander)

Abdullah al-Janabi (Islamist preacher) Abu Ayyub al-Masri

The First Battle of Fallujah, also known as Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation to root out extremist elements of Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in April 2004.