U.S. Marines in Battle: An-Najaf

Re city of an-Najaf, Iraq, is a provincial and market center located on the western branch of the Euphrates River approximately100 miles south of Baghdad. Its population (prewar) of 563,000 expands at times with pilgrims to this important center of Islamic scholarship and theology. It is the location of several significant shrines for Shia Muslims and boasts one of the largest cemeteries in
the world. Its more recent history has been marked by convict of a political nature as the place of exile for Ayatollah Khomeini and site of the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammad Sadiq. It served as the location of Shi’a resistance to perceived political oppression and was a place of battle once more in 2004.