Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

A large majority of the inhabitants of the province are Arab Sunni Muslims and most belong to the Dulaim tribe.

In early 2014, the Islamic State, with the assistance of some local Sunni militias, launched a successful campaign to seize control of the province from the Iraqi government.

Numerous offensive actions were undertaken by the Iraqi government, with the assistance of local Sunni tribes to remove IS's occupation of the province, especially in the Anbar campaign (2015–16), the Western Anbar offensive (September 2017) and the 2017 Western Iraq campaign.

During the Ottoman period, the province of Dulaim was created, today known as Al Anbar Governorate.

[citation needed] During the reign of Rashidun Caliph Abu bakr the conquest of Anbar was launched his successors conquered whole Middle East.

He built the road through the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, so the armies entering and leaving Iraq are passing through this region.

[8] The Anbar Province was the Sunni stronghold that had long provided Saddam Hussein with the support he needed to remain in power.

[8] Part of its significance came from the fact that the Western Euphrates River Valley served as an important infiltration route for foreign fighters headed to Iraq's heartland.

[8] The New York Times compared this region to the Vietnam War's Ho Chi Minh Trail, as foreign fighters and insurgents used the river valley to move in relative safety from the Syrian border to cities like Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah.

[citation needed] The contrast between the fertile Euphrates River Valley and the rest of the province is striking.

During a time when mining roads became a strategy of choice for insurgents, the need to patrol and travel throughout the province became one of the Marine Corps' greatest challenges.

The threat of insurgent activity, when combined with the challenges that long-distance travel, choking dust, and stifling heat created, made the Anbar Province a difficult area of operation.