Lake Habbaniyah (Arabic: بحيرة الحبانية Buhayrat al-Habbaniyah) is a shallow natural lake in al-Anbar, Iraq, west of Baghdad. It has a surface area 140 km². Traditionally the lake has been used to hold flood water from the River Euphrates, and in 1956 a barrage was constructed at Ramadi for this purpose. The lake was also used for recreational purposes.
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.
Habbaniya was also the site of a major United Statesmilitary base known as Al Taqqadum. This military base is across the flood relief canal, up on the plateau where the RAF built an additional airfield in 1953. Habbaniya itself remains a military base and was responsible for the training of the new Sunni 5,000, an effort by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense to incorporate Sunni Iraqis into the military to make it more representative. The base had its first graduation of recruits in May 2006.[1]