History is a brutal teacher. Sometimes, the lessons it offers are so bloody, so devastating, that nations ignore them only at their peril. One such lesson was written in the ruins of Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004, where the U.S. military fought two of the fiercest urban battles since Vietnam.
Today, as Israel fights for its survival against Hamas, those lessons should be studied carefully. Just as Fallujah was the heart of the Sunni insurgency, Gaza City is the fortress of Hamas. If Israel falters—if it stops short of capturing and breaking Gaza City—it risks condemning itself to endless rounds of bloodshed.
In March 2004, four American contractors working for Blackwater were ambushed in Fallujah. Their bodies were burned, mutilated and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates. The grotesque images were broadcast worldwide.
The American public was outraged. U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the Marines into Fallujah with the mission of reasserting control.
The Marines were among the finest combat troops in the world, but they faced a nightmare. Fallujah was a dense, ancient city of 300,000, its narrow streets and alleys perfect terrain for guerrillas. Insurgents from Al-Qaeda in Iraq—then led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—were dug in. They had prepared kill zones, fortified houses and mined streets.
Washington launched “Operation Vigilant Resolve.” Within days, Marines had surrounded and penetrated the city. But the fighting was vicious, and Al Jazeera beamed images of civilian casualties across the Arab world. International outrage swelled. Washington blinked. After just three weeks, the Marines were ordered to halt.
Control of the city was handed over to the so-called Fallujah Brigade, a hastily assembled force of former Iraqi military officers. As retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni later observed, “You can’t outsource victory to proxies who don’t share your determination. That’s not strategy—it’s surrender.”
The result? Disaster. The Fallujah Brigade disintegrated within days, handing weapons and ammunition to the insurgents. The city became the uncontested capital of jihad in Iraq. Suicide bombings escalated. Zarqawi grew in prestige. American weakness had emboldened the enemy.
The lesson: in counterinsurgency, half-measures are worse than doing nothing at all.
By November 2004, the United States had no choice. Fallujah had become a symbol of American impotence and a factory of death. So, with overwhelming force, America launched “Operation Phantom Fury” (known to Iraqis as al-Fajr, “The Dawn”). More than 10,000 American, British and Iraqi troops assaulted the city.
The fighting was apocalyptic. As one Marine officer put it, “We didn’t take the city by finesse. We took it by overwhelming violence of action.” Gen. James Mattis, then commander of the 1st Marine Division, explained the logic: “The enemy has chosen the ground of urban combat. It will be tough. But we will not give Fallujah up to the terrorists. We will clear the city, block by block, and show them there is no safe haven.”
By the time it was over in December, much of Fallujah lay in ruins. More than 100 coalition troops were dead and 600-plus were wounded. Insurgent deaths were estimated between 1,200 and 2,000. Civilian casualties, though impossible to count, were significant. Yet militarily, the operation succeeded. Fallujah was retaken. Zarqawi’s network was shattered, his prestige tarnished. The insurgency continued elsewhere, but Fallujah no longer served as its capital.
As Army Gen. David Petraeus would later reflect, “The second battle showed that once you commit to urban warfare, you must see it through. It is messy, it is bloody, but there is no substitute for victory.”
‘If you must fight, fight to win’
Israel today stands at the same crossroads the United States faced in 2004. For Hamas, Gaza City is what Fallujah was to Al-Qaeda in Iraq: the nerve center, the arsenal, the propaganda tool and the spiritual symbol of defiance. Beneath its hospitals, mosques and schools lies a spider web of fortified tunnels, command posts and weapons caches.
Hamas’s leaders are not hiding in Rafah. They are in Gaza City. Its destruction and its capture are essential if Israel hopes to dismantle Hamas as a military and governing force. Without Gaza City, Hamas cannot claim survival. With it, they can.
Imagine if Israel pauses its offensive now, leaving Gaza City in Hamas’s hands. What happens? Hamas survives. Its leaders emerge from the tunnels. They proclaim victory: “The mighty Israeli army could not conquer us!” Recruitment surges in Jenin, Nablus, Beirut, and beyond. Iran rejoices. The Arab street cheers. And Israel, despite its battlefield successes, is seen as weak.
This is exactly what happened in Fallujah after April 2004. The insurgents walked taller, the jihad spread wider, and the United States paid the price in blood just months later.
Here lies the grotesque hypocrisy. When America leveled Fallujah, much of the world shrugged. There was criticism, but no one declared the United States illegitimate, no one launched global boycotts against it, no one suggested that it surrender to Al-Qaeda. The world accepted that America, attacked by terrorists, had the right to crush them.
Yet Israel, facing Hamas after the barbarism of Oct. 7, 2023, is held to an impossible standard. It is told to fight a “clean war” against an enemy that hides under baby incubators and fires from schoolyards.
Make no mistake: The conquest of Gaza City will be awful. Civilians, used by Hamas as human shields, will die, despite Israel’s warnings and evacuations. Soldiers will die, fighting in stairwells, tunnels and shattered alleys. The images will be broadcast endlessly to vilify Israel. International condemnation will rise to a fever pitch.
But war is not judged by appearances. It is judged by outcomes. The United States did not retake Fallujah by caring about news coverage by CNN. It did so by focusing on victory, knowing that hesitation had already cost lives. Israel must do the same.
As Mattis famously told his Marines in Fallujah: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” That is the grim reality of urban war. And it is the only way to destroy Hamas in its fortress.
Fallujah taught America two lessons: First, never attack unless you are prepared to finish; and second, if you must fight in the city, fight to win.
Israel now faces its Fallujah. Gaza City is not just another battlefield. It is the fortress of Hamas, the symbol of their defiance, the center of their power. To leave it standing is to leave Hamas alive.
As Petraeus warned, “Half-measures in urban warfare do not save lives. They only postpone defeat.” Israel cannot afford to postpone anything.
For in the Middle East, as in Iraq, the only way forward is through.
