Satellite photo coming soon....

Haditha lies 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, less than 100 miles from the Syrian border. The town is remotely situated along a major highway used by travelers moving from western Iraq to major cities like Mosul and Baghdad, and other locations toward the central and northern parts of the country.

This Euphrates River city is home to 90,000 residents, citizens who have suffered at the hands of insurgents. Haditha’s remote location and close proximity to a major highway, the Euphrates River, and the Syrian border make the city an ideal insurgent hideout. Without regard for innocent residents, rebel forces have employed innocent people as human shields, and targeted the locals in senseless mortar attacks.

More than half of Haditha Hospital was leveled earlier this month in a suicide bombing, one of numerous attacks that occurred on the city’s streets. In April alone, a Haditha police chief was executed, and the bodies of 19 murdered fishermen were discovered.