Lying just south of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Nippur, Diwaniyah is home to 420,000 people and the capital of the central province of Qadissiyah. It is also the center of a particularly fertile region, known for cultivating palm trees, vineyards, and orchards. It has always been a marketplace for dates and grain.

Since it occupies a key spot on a branch of the Euphrates and on the rail line between Baghdad and Basra, and is connected by a main highway to Nasiriya, Diwaniyah has always been a political hotspot as well. In November 2000, authorities arrested 50 of the most prominent people from the southern region for opposing Saddam's regime. They later released twenty, but took the remaining thirty into detention in Baghdad. Then in December 2000, rebels firing a blast of rockets from a speeding jeep attacked the local Ba'ath Party headquarters in Diwaniyah

After seizing the territory, the Marines set up a major base camp in the city for many units of 1st Marine Division. Named Camp Edson, it was located in the offices of Al Qadisiyah University.