In December 1934, sixteen kilometers south of Ar-Rutbah, the famous Dutch plane Uiver crashed, with all onboard killed.

[3] According to research conduct by Lucy Budd, of Loughborough University, the airstrip and rest house at Rutbah Wells were specifically built for Imperial Airways by the Iraqi government, and assigned a detachment of armed soldiers to defend against hostile tribes.

One passenger wrote of the "unforgettable experience of arriving at the most desolate and extraordinary hostelry in the world", while another remarked on "the absurdity of coming down [in the morning] to an English ham and egg breakfast in the middle of the desert".

[7] In 1929, when Francis Chichester completed his solo flight to New Zealand in a de Havilland DH.60 Moth, he stopped at Rutbah Wells.

In his autobiography, The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Chichester described it as follows: "Rutbah Wells was a romantic spot in the middle of the desert, a large square fort with buildings backed up inside to the high walls.

He also wrote that there was an Imperial Airways mechanic stationed at the fort, who helped him repair his plane, and that he stayed the night in an Iraqi officer's room.

On 21 December, sixteen kilometers south of Rutbah Wells, the plane was found, completely destroyed, by an RAF pilot.

Prior to the Gulf War, the Iraqi government installed an Intercept Operations Center (IOC) in Ar-Rutbah, which is designed to provide local air defence control.

[13] Following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, on 9 April 2003, United States Army Special Forces under the command of Major James A. Gavrilis approached the town.

Gavrilis opened channels of communication with those inside the town, attempting to send the message that they "cared more about the people of Ar Rutbah than did the Fedayeen."

[7] After the Special Forces left the town, the US Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment took over responsibility for the area and conducted operations from an outpost approximately 10 miles west, known as FOB Buzz, previously a small Iraqi military installation near the abandoned H3 Airfield.

[15] In 2004, Marines from Regimental Combat Team 7 relieved the Army soldiers and took control of the town, resolving to engage the populace more proactively.

The base served as a regional air field, convoy rest stop, shock trauma hospital and headquarters of the local Marine garrison.

The primary military objectives of the Marine units assigned there were to disrupt the flow of insurgent fighters and weapons from the Jordanian and Syrian borders.

[19] On the early morning of 4 January 2006, an Iraqi citizen, Adnan Eid Abbass, died in US custody en route from his home in Ar-Rutbah to Camp Korean Village.

The town's efforts included recruiting approximately 200 men to send to an Iraqi Police training academy to increase counterinsurgency practices.

On 22 June 2014, a member of the local council told The New York Times that "around fifty vehicles full of militants and weapons came from Hauran valley and after sporadic clashes with police they took control over the central town.

"[25] On 24 June a Syrian air-force raid on Rutba, to assist the Iraqi army during the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, killed at least 50 ISIS militants.

The origin of the airstrike was uncertain, as neither the Iraqi government or coalition forces acknowledged launching a strike near Ar-Rutbah on that date.

The United Nations expressed "serious concern" about the issue, and the Governor of Anbar Province, Suhaib al-Rawi, launched an investigation into the attack.

[28] In late August 2015, a coalition airstrike, led by the US Air Force, destroyed a car bomb-making facility on the outskirts of Ar-Rutbah.

[33] ISIL attacked the city on 23 October 2016, possibly in order to draw away Iraqi security forces involved in the Battle of Mosul.