Lake Habbaniyah

Lake Habbaniyah (Arabic: بحيرة الحبانية Buḥayrat al-Ḥabbāniya) is a lake located halfway between Ramadi and Fallujah near Al-Taqaddum (TQ) Air Base in Al Habbaniyah in Anbar Province, Iraq.^[1]

Lake Habbaniyah
Lake Habbaniyah
Coordinates	33°17′43″N 43°27′10″E
Primary inflows	Euphrates River
Primary outflows	Lake Milh
Basin countries	Iraq
Surface area	140 km2 (54 sq mi)

U.S. Army helicopter over Lake Habbaniyah, May 2008

In the late 1930s and 1940s Lake Habbaniyah was used by Imperial Airways as a refueling point and hotel for flying boats flying from the United Kingdom to India.^[2] Nearby on the banks of the Euphrates had already been established the Royal Air Force airbase of RAF Dhibban, later renamed RAF Habbaniya.^[3]

Lake Habbaniya Sailing Club, 1954

It was the scene of action during the Rashid Ali rebellion Anglo-Iraqi War when the RAF trainee aircrew and troops stationed there effectively saw off the besieging Iraqi troops and subsequent German aerial attacks. In 2014, the area was the site of a number of battles between Iraqi forces and militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.^[4]

See also

• 123 Signals Unit RAF
• Al Taqaddum - TQ
• RAF Habbaniya
• Lake Tharthar
• Lake Milh
• Lake Qadisiyah
• Mosul Dam
• List of dams and reservoirs in Iraq
• Wildlife of Iraq