During Operation Rising Storm, the 99th and 110th Mechanized Divisions, among twenty others, launched a surprise attack across the Suez Canal. The troops of the 99th and 110th Mechanized Divisions mostly came from the city of Tangiers, Algeria.

During said invasion of the heartlands of the Caliphate, Paternian Army units, supported by artillery, PAF attack aircraft, Navy cruisers, tanks, armored vehicles, and combat engineers, made rapid pace through Iraq, the Levant, Syria, Turkey, Arabia, and even Western Persia itself, shelling the city of Tehran.

Cities such as Baghdad, Mosul, Damascus, Aleppo, Beirut, Jeddah, Riyadh, and Medina were scenes of brief but fierce combat with what military units and militias are available.

However, the mayor of Ramadi was not interested in watching the streets be painted with blood of anyone, and disobeying a direct order, ordered the defenses to be let down and that Ramadi be an "open city" and ordered Persian military, police, and militia units to stand down, and only attack if attacked.

The vanguard of the 99th and 110th units made their way into the city unopposed, as was the rest of the unit. Initial encounters between Persian and Paternian units were very tense, as the Paternians were given similar orders.

However, despite the tension, the imams decided to continue prayer service as normal. When the civilians in Ramadi, and the Persians discovered the Paternians were Muslim and had a shortage of Muslim chaplains, unanimously decided that the Paternian soldiers could pray with them. The city's imams and Paternian Army chaplains conducted joint prayer sessions, which although were tense, soon loosened up.

An uneasy peace was established for two days until a Persian soldier fell dead in a bazaar, struck by a silent bullet. Although many blamed the Paternians, the Persian commander decided to hold an investigation and an autopsy, and publicly announced that he in fact died accidentally, finding the bullet most likely came from a weapons bazaar, most likely the result of the practice of firing weapons into the air in order to prove to the customer that they do work. A notice came from the civilian authorities that weapons shall not be fired in the air, under the punishment of death.

No further incidents occured, and soon, both Persian and Paternian soldiers interacted with each other on friendly terms, often exchanging life stories from their times with the people and the soldiers alike.

However, this would come to an end in two weeks, for Persian reinforcements, unaware of the situation in Ramadi, counter-attacked, firing at both Paternian soldiers and Persian soldiers stationed in the city trying to explain the situation.

But it was too late. Fighting escalated, and the Paternians and Persians in Ramadi who were once friends, now were enemies. The Paternian 99th and 110th Mechanized Divisions were eventually driven to the outskirts before committing a full, organized, retreat. Reprecussions among the civilian leadership were severe, as with the Persian Calipahte Army command in the city.

Such a tragedy, indeed, and without meaning if it were not for the story that leaked all the way across the Caliphate. Persian propaganda has long held that the Paternians were cowardly, uncultured brutes who oppose all things Muslim. Yet, despite their best efforts at suppression of the story, it spread. The story of Paternian soldiers who not only respected the open city agreement, but were also devout Muslims, shook the ideological thinking of many people in the Caliphate in their trust with the media (run by the Caliphate) as well as altering the perception of the Paternian Army.

Protests were held in opposition to the war, for the premise of the war for many, to destroy the infidels that were the Paternian Republic, did not match stories which many family members communicated of Paternian soldiers being devout Muslims. These peaceful protests turned into riots when police forces called upon the army, complete with tanks and helicopters, to disperse them.

A similar effect occurred within the Paternian Republic, but with much less severe repercussions to the Paternian Government. The general perception of the Persians was that they were crazed extremists. Many demonstrations were held in hope a lasting peace could be made.

May Ramadi be a reminder that peace is possible, even among the most belligerent sides of a brutal global conflict.