A mosque in Fallujah, Iraq that became a battle site during the Iraq War. From 2005 through October 6 2023 the opening stated the mosque "came to worldwide attention when militants holed up inside it directed small-arms fire and a rocket at US Marines." The word survives once in the article today but is gone from the opening, which now only calls Fallujah "the city of 120 mosques" without mentioning the battle. A reader today learns Fallujah once had many mosques, and not that militants used this specific mosque to fire on US Marines.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “militant” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque came to worldwide attention when militants holed up inside it directed small-arms fire and a rocket at US Marines . US forces returned fire, according to a field-grade Marine officer.1A brigadier general acknowledged that as a religious building, the mosque would ordinarily have protection under the Geneva Convention , but added that the attacks from inside the building caused it to lose its status. It was initially claimed that some 40 rebels had been killed in the strike, but it was later stated that no bodies were actually found at the scene.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16414351.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai Mosque is a mosque in Iraq that came to worldwide attention when militants holed up inside it directed small-arms and rocket fire at US Marines . US forces returned fire, according to a field-grade Marine officer. A brigadier general intentionally demolished the religious building. He said the mosque would ordinarily have protection under the Geneva Convention , but added that the attacks from inside the building caused it to lose its status. It was initially claimed that some 40 rebels had been killed in the strike, but it was later stated that no bodies were actually found at the scene. Other sources claim as many as 50 were killed in the attack.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 312687471.
The opening as it stood in 2015
The Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai Mosque is a mosque in Fallujah , Iraq that came to worldwide attention when militants holed up inside it directed small-arms and rocket fire at US Marines . US forces returned fire, according to a field-grade Marine officer. A brigadier general intentionally demolished the religious building. He said the mosque would ordinarily have protection under the Geneva Convention , but added that the attacks from inside the building caused it to lose its status. It was initially claimed that some 40 rebels had been killed in the strike, but it was later stated that no bodies were actually found at the scene. Other sources claim as many as 50 were killed in the attack. .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 654352855.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai Mosque is an Islamic mosque located in Fallujah , Iraq .The mosque came to worldwide attention when Sunni militants inside the mosque directed small-arms and rocket fire at US Marines .US forces returned fire, when a Cobra helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at the base of the mosque's minaret and an F-16 intentionally dropped a bomb on the mosque. A US Marines brigadier general said the mosque would ordinarily have protection under the Geneva Convention , but added that the attacks from inside the building caused it to lose its status. It was initially claimed that forty rebels had been killed in the strike, but it was later stated that no bodies were actually found at the scene. Other sources claim as many as 50 were killed in the attack. Hits Mosque Compound in Fallujah" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 915033595.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Mosque in Fallujah, Al Anbar, Iraq The Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai Mosque is an Islamic mosque located in Fallujah , Iraq . The mosque came to worldwide attention when Sunni militants inside the mosque directed small-arms and rocket fire at US Marines . US forces returned fire, when a Cobra helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at the base of the mosque's minaret and an F-16 intentionally dropped a bomb on the mosque. A US Marines brigadier general said the mosque would ordinarily have protection under the Geneva Convention , but added that the attacks from inside the building caused it to lose its status. It was initially claimed that forty rebels had been killed in the strike, but it was later stated that no bodies were actually found at the scene. Other sources claim as many as 50 were killed in the attack. Hits Mosque Compound in Fallujah" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1141657816.
The opening as it stood in 2025 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Mosque in Fallujah, Al Anbar, Iraq The Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai Mosque ( Arabic : جامع اﺍلشﯾﻳخ عبدﺩ اﺍلعزﺯﯾﻳزﺯ اﺍلسامرﺭاﺍئي ) is an Islamic mosque located in Fallujah , in the Al Anbar Governorate of Iraq .Historically, a predominantly Sunni city, prior to the Iraq War , Fallujah was described as "the city of 120 mosques"."The "City of Mosques" has become the "City of Rubble" " .International Committee of the Fourth International .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296626370. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“militant” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
militant
1
1
1
1
1
0
genocide
0
0
0
0
0
1
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
mosque in iraq that came to worldwide attention when militants holed up inside it directed small-arms and rocke
Now
islamic mosque located in fallujah
Where the word went
It left the opening. It did not leave the article. Wikipedia moved it down the page, where a reader arriving from a search result will not reach it.
“militant” now appears 1× under During the Iraq War, 33% of the way down the article
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
