Combat· Iraq War (Op IRAQI FREEDOM)
Operation Spear
Operation Spear was a Marine offensive in the western Euphrates valley, targeting an insurgent stronghold among the river towns of Anbar as part of the 2005 campaign against the foreign-fighter networks in the border region.
The Marines drove into the contested town to clear al-Qaeda in Iraq forces who had entrenched themselves among the population and fortified their positions, fighting through prepared defenses, booby traps, and tunnels in the close urban terrain. The operation uncovered the depth of the insurgent presence and the harshness of their rule over the local people, and it inflicted losses on the enemy while disrupting his hold on the area. Spear was one of the named operations in the sustained effort to contest the western Euphrates, part of the sequence of sweeps that pressed the insurgents in the river valley. It contributed to the mounting pressure that preceded the final clear-and-hold campaign in the Al Qaim district.
Record no. 769