Western Iraq is comprised of a single province, Anbar, located to the west of Baghdad. It stretches northwest to the Syrian border and southwest to the Saudi Arabian border. The Euphrates River Valley represents the main line of communication in the province, with numerous cities and settlements lining its banks. Moving from west to east, the cities of al-Qaim, Rawah, Haditha, Hit, Ramadi, Habbaniyah, and Fallujah make up the main population centers of the province. Anbar’s population is almost entirely Sunni Muslim.

From 2003 to 2007 Anbar served as the primary base for the Sunni insurgency. Many of Anbar’s major cities acted as hubs for the road network al-Qaeda used to transport foreign fighters entering from Syria. The Euphrates River Valley was also used to store weapons and supplies used to carry out attacks in Baghdad. Despite two major U.S. operations to clear Fallujah during 2004, and continued operations throughout the summer of 2005, Anbar remained extremely violent. A 2006 Marine Corps Intelligence report concluded that victory in Anbar was out of reach for U.S. forces.

After the August 2006 murder of a prominent sheik, local sheiks in Ramadi organized a movement they called “The Awakening” to fight al-Qaeda and expel them from the city. To achieve this goal, the sheikhs encouraged thousands of Anbaris to join the Iraqi police, significantly increasing the force presence in the city. During the winter and spring of 2006-2007 the Awakening movement spread through the province and pushed al-Qaeda from their strongholds. As a result, violence across the province declined substantially in 2007. By 2008, al-Anbar Province had become one of the safest in all of Iraq.