Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 20, 2013

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Marines from the 3rd Battalion 3rd Marine Regiment patrolling through the town of Haqlaniyah in Al Anbar Province, 2006

The Iraq War in Anbar Province was a counter-insurgency campaign in the Iraq War, waged in the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq from 2003 to 2011. It was fought primarily between the United States Marine Corps, with its allies the Federal government of Iraq, and members of the Iraqi insurgency led by Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Almost 9,000 Iraqis and 1,335 Americans were killed during the war in Anbar, mostly between April 2004 and September 2007. Savage fighting occurred in the province in 2004, including the First and Second Battles of Fallujah. Though the fighting initially featured heavy urban warfare, in later years insurgents focused on ambushing the American and Iraqi security forces with improvised explosive devices. Both sides committed multiple human rights violations, such as the Fallujah killings and Haditha killings. In August 2006, several tribes located near Ramadi and led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha formed the Anbar Awakening and revolted against AQI. US and Iraqi tribal forces regained control of Anbar Province in 2007 and turned it over to the Iraqi Government in 2008. The last American forces left the province on 7 December 2011. (Full article...)

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