General Jasim Mohammed Saleh was an Iraqi level-2 Baathist who commanded the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein. After US forces failed to capture Fallujah, they turned control of the city over to Saleh, and his own private militia in the hope that he could restore order to the city. A former chief-of-staff for a Republican Guard brigade who later commanded the Iraqi 38th Infantry Division, Saleh was stationed in Amarah in 1991 to help quell a Shia uprising. A native of Fallujah, Saleh was a prominent member of the city's largest tribe and closely related to its leader.