It was tasked with advancing northwest to defeat the Vichy French garrison at Palmyra and secure the oil pipeline from Haditha in Iraq to Tripoli on the Lebanon coast.
Following this, in July 1941 it was placed under the command of I Australian Corps and was involved in operations against the Vichy French in Syria, advancing from eastern Iraq near the Trans-Jordan border on Palmyra to secure the Haditha - Tripoli oil pipeline.
Haditha | Haditha Dam |
Captain James Kimber, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R. Chessani, and Captain Luke McConnell, according to a report by The Times on May 29, 2006, were all relieved of their duties on suspicion of inadequate reporting of or investigation into the Haditha incident.
U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee visited Iraq following Time magazine's report of an atrocity in Haditha.