The battle was initiated when a pair of three-man United States Marine Corps STA (Surveillance, Target, and Acquisition) teams in Haditha were surprised and overrun by a small insurgent force.

Two days after the killings, Marine forces launched Operation Quick Strike to disrupt insurgent presence in the Haditha area.

On the second day of that operation, a Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicle hit a large roadside bomb, killing 15 out of the 16 on board.

On the morning of 1 August 2005, a pair of three-man USMC Reserve STA teams on the outskirts of Haditha was attacked by a small insurgent force from the Ansar al-Sunna group and in moments was overrun.

The operation began when Marines and Iraqi soldiers moved into Haqliniyah, about seven kilometers southwest of Haditha.

The company had already lost twelve servicemen since the beginning of the war, including eight members in Operation Matador in May.

Small Craft Company USMC assisted in locating the bodies of the slain snipers and were engaged in a large fire fight on the east bank of the Euphrates River in the city of Haditha.

On 1 August 2005, Lima Company, 3/25 had detained two "military-aged" males in the home next to the site where the snipers had been killed and had found large quantities of blood in the house.