Battle of Donkey Island
| Battle of Donkey Island | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Iraq War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| United States | Islamic State of Iraq | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
1-77 Armor Regiment 2nd Battalion 5th Marines | 1-149 Aviation Battalion | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 30–50 soldiers | 40–70 fighters | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2 killed, 11 wounded | 32 killed | ||||||
The Battle of Donkey Island was a skirmish that occurred on 30 June and 1 July 2007 between elements of the U.S. Army Task Force 1-77 Armor Regiment, the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines and a numerically superior force of Islamic State of Iraq insurgents on the banks of a canal leading from Ramadi to Lake Habbaniyah in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.
Official reports of the clash indicate that the U.S. force suffered 2 soldiers dead and 11 wounded, while an estimated 32 insurgents were killed (out of an estimated force of 40–70 fighters). From a military perspective, the battle was a complete victory for the U.S. forces, which detected and defeated an insurgent force before it could launch a planned assault on Ramadi. From a political perspective, the action revealed the continuing ability of Islamic State of Iraq to plan and assemble forces in their attempt to destabilize the Anbar region.