Combat· Iraq War (Op IRAQI FREEDOM)
Operation River Blitz
Operation River Blitz was a Marine operation in the western Euphrates River valley of Anbar Province, part of the sustained campaign to clear insurgent forces from the towns and corridors along the river that served as the infiltration route for fighters and weapons entering Iraq. The Marines pushed into the contested river-valley towns to disrupt al-Qaeda in Iraq and the foreign-fighter networks that used the area, conducting sweeps and clearing operations against an entrenched and elusive enemy. River Blitz belonged to the series of operations by which the Marines contested the western Euphrates in the period following the second battle of Fallujah, working to extend control along the strategic river line toward the Syrian border. The operation was one of the building blocks of the broader effort to choke off the insurgent supply route and assert Coalition presence in the volatile western reaches of Anbar Province.
Record no. 766