The Second Battle of Fallujah (code-named Operation Al-Fajr - "The Dawn" in Arabic, and Operation Phantom Fury) was a joint U.S.-Iraqi offensive led by the U.S. Marine Corps against the Iraqi insurgency stronghold in the city of Fallujah, authorized by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Interim Government. The U.S. military called it "the heaviest urban combat since the Battle of Hue City in Vietnam."[6]
This operation was the second major operation in Fallujah. Earlier, in April 2004, Coalition Forces began Operation Vigilant Resolve in order to capture or kill insurgent elements considered responsible for the deaths of a Blackwater Security team. When Coalition Forces (a majority being US Marines) fought into the center of the city, the Iraqi government requested that control of the city be turned over to an Iraqi-run local security force, which then began stockpiling weapons and building complex defenses across the city during Summer 2004.