Lihat sumber Fallujah

:''Artikel ini membahas tentang kota Fallujah di Irak. Untuk informasi lebih jauh tentang perang di Fallujah, lihat [[Pendudukan AS di Fallujah]].''
:''Untuk tempat di Israel (dulunya sebuah kota Arab), lihat [[al-Faluja]].''
:''Untuk distrik di Irak, lihat [[Fallujah (distrik)]]''
[[Berkas:Iraq map fallujah.png|ka|Lokasi Fallujah di Irak]]
[[Berkas:Fallujah.JPEG|ka|jmpl|Cakrawala di Fallujah]]

'''Fallujah''' ([[bahasa Arab]]:الفلوجة); kadang-kadang [[alih aksara|dialihaksarakan]] menjadi '''Falluja''' atau '''Fallouja''') adalah sebuah kota di provinsi [[Kegubernuran Al Anbar|Al Anbar]], [[Irak]], yang terletak sekitar 69&nbsp;km sebelah barat [[Baghdad]] di tepi Sungai [[Eufrat]]. Fallujah telah ada sejak zaman Babilonia dan di sini pula terdapat sejumlah akademi Yahudi yang penting selama berabad-abad. Kota ini berkembang dari sebuah kota kecil pada 1947 hingga pada [[Pasca-invasi Irak, 2003-2005|masa sebelum perang]] populasinya berjumlah 350.000 orang pada 2003. Penduduknya sekarang tidak diketahui, tetapi diperkirakan 350.000 lebih, dan diperkirakan setiap bulannya 300 penduduk baru tiba di kota itu. Di Irak sendiri, kota ini dikenal sebagai "kota [[masjid]]" karena di seluruh kota ini dan desa-desa sekitarya ada lebih dari 200 buah masjid. Perang konon telah menyebabkan rusaknya 60% bangunan di seluruh kota, dengan 20% hancur total, termasuk 60 buah masjid di kota ini.

== Sejarah ==
Wilayah ini telah dihuni selama beberapa milenium. Ada bukti bahwa wilayah di sekitar Fallujah telah berpenghuni pada zaman [[Babilonia]]. Etimologi nama kotanya tidak dapat dipastikan, tetapi sebuah teori menyebutkan bahwa nama [[Bahasa Suryani|Siriaknya]], '''Pallgutha''', berasal dari kata ''divisi'' atau ''bagian''. Nama kota ini dalam [[bahasa Aram]] adalah [[Pumbedita]].

Daerah Fallujah pernah menjadi bagian dari provinsi [[Sassanid]] Persia, ''Anbar''. Kata ''anbar'' berasal dari bahasa [[Persia]] dan berarti "gudang". Region in dianggap sebagai gudang bagi pasukan-pasukan. [http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/ref/al_anbar]{{Pranala mati|date=Maret 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Kota Fallujah sendiri disebut Misiche pada waktu itu.

Selama berabad-abad di kota ini terdapat salah satu akademi [[Yahudi]] yang paling penting, [[Sejarah Yahudi di Irak#Babilonia sebagai pusat Yudaisme (219 M - ~1050 M)|Akademi Pumbedita]], yang dari tahun [[258]] hingga [[1038]] menjadi salah satu dari dua pusat belajar Yahudi terpenting di seluruh dunia. [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=710&letter=A] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921023951/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=710&letter=A |date=2011-09-21 }}

Di bawah [[Kesultanan Ottoman]], Fallujah menjadi sebuah tempat perhentian kecil dalam jalur-jalur utama negara itu melintasi padang gurun di sebelah barat [[Baghdad]].
 
Pada musim semi [[1920]], Britania, yang telah menguasai Irak setelah runtuhnya Kesultanan Ottoman, mengirim Letkol. [[Gerard Leachman]], seorang penjelajah terkenal dan perwira kolonial senior, untuk memadamkan pemberontakan di Fallujah. Leachman terbunuh tepat di selatan kota ini dalam sebuah perkelahian dengan seorang pemimpin setempat [[Syeikh Dhari]]. Britania mengirimkan sebuah pasukan untuk menghancurkan pemberontakan itu dan pertempuran yang terjadi sesudah itu menelan korban lebih dari 10.000 orang Irak dan 1.000 pasukan Britania.{{Fact|date=January 2007}}

Dalam [[Perang Inggris-Irak]] yang singkat pada [[1941]], tentara Irak dikalahkan oleh Britania dalam sebuah pertempuran dekat Fallujah. Pada [[1947]] kota ini hanya mempunyai sekitar 10.000 penduduk saja. Ia berkembang cepat menjadi sebuah kota setelah kemerdekaan Irak dengan masuknya kekayaan [[minyak bumi|minyak]] ke negara ini. Posisinya sebagai salah satu jalan utama keluar dari Baghdad membuat posisinya sangat penting.

<!--Under [[Saddam Hussein]], who ruled Iraq from [[1979]] to [[2003]], Fallujah came to be an important area of support for the regime, along with the rest of the region labeled by the US military as the "[[Sunni Triangle]]". Many residents of the primarily [[Sunni]] city were employees and supporters of Saddam's government, and many senior [[Ba'ath Party]] officials were natives of the city. Fallujah was heavily industrialised during the Saddam era, with the construction of several large factories, including one closed down by [[United Nations Special Commission]] (UNSCOM) in the [[1990s]] that may have been used to create [[chemical weapons]].  A new highway system (a part of Saddam's infrastructure initiatives) circumvented Fallujah and gradually caused the city to decline in national importance by the time of the Iraq War.{{Fact|date=January 2007}}
[[Berkas:BrooklynBridgeFallujah.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Fallujah as seen from the west in April 2004]]

====Gulf War, 1991====
During the [[Gulf War]], Fallujah suffered one of the highest tolls of civilian casualties. Two separate failed bombing attempts on Fallujah's bridge across the Euphrates River hit crowded markets, killing an estimated 200 civilians.

The first bombing occurred early in the Gulf War. A [[United Kingdom|British]] jet intending to bomb the bridge dropped two laser-guided bombs on the city's main market. Between 50 and 150 civilians died and many more were injured. In the second incident, Coalition forces attacked Fallujah's bridge over the Euphrates with four laser-guided bombs. At least one struck the bridge while one or two bombs fell short in the river. The fourth bomb hit another market elsewhere in the city, reportedly due to failure of its laser guidance system.{{Fact|date=January 2007}}

===Iraq War, 2003===
{{main|United States occupation of Fallujah}}
[[Berkas:Downtown fallujah.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Downtown Fallujah, December 2003]]
Fallujah was one of the least affected areas of Iraq immediately after the 2003 invasion by the US-led Coalition. Iraqi Army units stationed in the area abandoned their positions and disappeared into the local population, leaving unsecured military equipment behind. Fallujah was also the site of a Ba'athist resort facility called '[[Dreamland, Iraq|Dreamland]]', located only a few kilometers outside the city proper.

The damage the city had avoided during the initial invasion was negated by damage from looters, who took advantage of the collapse of [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam's]] regime. The looters targeted former government sites, the Dreamland compound, and the nearby military bases. Buildings were stripped of anything of value, including floor tiles, window frames, and door frames. Aggravating this situation was the proximity of Fallujah to the infamous [[Abu Ghraib]] prison, from which Saddam, in one of his last acts, had released all prisoners.

Citizens of Fallujah had to defend their own homes and property from these looters and criminals in the absence of peace-keeping authorities. The new mayor of the city—[[Taha Bidaywi Hamed]], selected by local tribal leaders—was strongly pro-[[United States|American]]. When the US Army entered the town in [[April 2003]], they positioned themselves at the vacated Ba'ath Party headquarters. A Fallujah Protection Force composed of local Iraqis was set up by the US-led occupants to help fight the rising resistance.

On the evening of [[April 28]], [[2003]], a crowd of 200 people defied a curfew imposed by the Americans and gathered outside a secondary school used as a military HQ to demand its reopening. Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne stationed on the roof of the building  opened fire on the crowd, resulting in the deaths of 17 civilians and the wounding of over 70.<ref>[http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/iraqfalluja/Iraqfalluja-03.htm#P165_24463]</ref>. The events leading up to the event are disputed. American forces claim they were responding to gunfire from the crowd, while the Iraqis involved deny this version, although conceding rocks were thrown at the troops. A protest against the killings two days later was also fired upon by US troops resulting in two more deaths.

The shootings aggravated feelings against the occupation. Over the next year, various [[Sunni]] rebel groups, including foreign terrorists aligned to al-Qaeda{{Fact|date=January 2007}}, [[entrenched]] themselves in the city, using it as a command base and a symbol of defiance against the multinational forces and the interim Iraqi government, to whom sovereignty was returned in July 2004.

[[Berkas:Fallujah bridge.jpg|thumb|Citizens of Fallujah near a bridge on which two corpses are hanged.]]On [[March 31]] [[2004]], [[Iraqi insurgency|Iraqi insurgents]] in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American [[private military contractor]]s from [[Blackwater USA]], who were conducting delivery for food caterers [[Eurest Support Services|ESS]]<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/contractors/highrisk.html]</ref>

The four armed contractors, [[Scott Helvenston]], Jerry (Jerko) Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, were dragged from their cars, beaten, and set on fire. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a [[bridge]] crossing the [[Euphrates]].<ref>[http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles387.htm]</ref> This bridge is now unofficially referred to as "Blackwater Bridge" by coalition forces operating there.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}

Photographs of the event were released to [[news agency|news agencies]] worldwide, causing outrage in the United States, and prompting the announcement of an upcoming "pacification" of the city.

This led to an abortive US operation to recapture control of the city in [[Operation Vigilant Resolve]], and a successful recapture operation in the city in November 2004, called [[Operation Phantom Fury]] in English and [[Operation Al Fajr]] in Arabic.  Operation Phantom Fury resulted in the reputed death of over 1,200 insurgent fighters. Approximately 100 [[United States|American]] Marines were killed, and over 1,000 wounded. According to local sources, hundreds of civilians were among those killed. There are widespread reports that numerous illegal weapons were used by coalition forces in Operation Phantom Fury.  These reportedly include nerve gas, mustard gas, chemical burning agents, thermobaric weapons, and white phosphorus. These weapons are banned by multiple international treaties, especially when used in the vicinity of civilians or civilian infrastructure. White phosphorus and thermobaric weapons are not outlawed by any ratified conventions of warfare, however. Eyewitness reports give accounts of whole sections of the city (then containing 50,000 inhabitants) being completely dead, including birds, stray dogs and cats, and people. No independent verification or press coverage exists of these reports.

One Marine killed during the battle, [[Rafael Peralta]], has been nominated for the [[Medal of Honor]]. He protected fellow Marines by covering a grenade with his body just before it exploded.

===Current situation===
Residents were allowed to return to the city in mid-December after undergoing [[biometric]] identification, provided they wear their ID cards all the time.  US officials report that "more than half of Fallujah's 39,000 homes were damaged, and about 10,000 of those were destroyed" while compensation amounts to 20 percent of the value of damaged houses, with an estimated 32,000 homeowners eligible, according to Marine Lt Col William Brown.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64292-2005Apr18.html Washington Post], [[18 April]] [[2005]].</ref>  According to NBC, 9,000 homes were destroyed, thousands more were damaged and of the 32,000 compensation claims only 2,500 have been paid as of [[April 14]] [[2005]].<ref>[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7503610/]</ref>  According to Mike Marqusee of ''Iraq Occupation Focus'' writing in the ''[[Guardian (newspaper)|Guardian]]'', "Fallujah's compensation commissioner has reported that 36,000 of the city's 50,000 homes were destroyed, along with 60 schools and 65 mosques and shrines".<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1638785,00.html The ''Guardian''].</ref> Reconstruction mainly consists of clearing rubble from heavily-damaged areas and reestablishing basic utility services. Ten per cent of the pre-offensive inhabitants had returned as of mid-January 2005, and 30% as of the end of March 2005.<ref> [http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-31-voa6.cfm].</ref>

Pre-offensive inhabitant figures are unreliable; the nominal population was assumed to have been 250,000-350,000.  Thus, over 150,000 individuals are still living as [[internally displaced person|IDP]]s in tent cities or with relatives outside Fallujah or elsewhere in Iraq. Current estimates by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and Coalition Forces put the city's population at over 350,000, possibly closing in on half a million.

In the aftermath of the offensive, relative calm was restored to Fallujah. However, the number of insurgent attacks has gradually increased in and around the city.

By Summer 2006, it was reported that Fallujah had become relatively peaceful, by contrast to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the rest of the volatile [[Al-Anbar]] province.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001204.html Washington Post], [[10 September]] [[2006]].</ref> The security measures that had been introduced to prevent mass re-infiltration by [[Sunni]] rebels or [[Al-Qaeda]] elements had proven effective{{Fact|date=January 2007}}, though a significant fraction of the population of the city was lost as refugees fled from the activities of [[Operation Vigilant Resolve]] and [[Operation Phantom Fury]].{{Fact|date=January 2007}}-->

== Lihat pula ==
* [[Operasi Sapu Pasar]]
* [[Pemberontakan Irak]]
* [[Daftar tempat di Irak]]

== Rujukan ==
{{reflist}}

== Pranala luar ==
* [http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/en/body.asp ''Falluja: The hidden massacre''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051201030604/http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/en/body.asp |date=2005-12-01 }} [[RAI|RAI News 24]] (Di [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1134673789364675735&q=fallujah+hidden&pl=true Google Video] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119125307/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1134673789364675735&q=fallujah+hidden&pl=true |date=2007-11-19 }})
* [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070415/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarycalifornia2_070415153858 Fallujah comes to California at US Army's 'model Iraq'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418110011/http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070415/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarycalifornia2_070415153858 |date=2007-04-18 }} [[AFP]]

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[[Kategori:Kota di Irak]]
[[Kategori:Kota di Jalur Sutra]]