Despite losing the Battle of Endymion Crater due to the Atlantic Federation's Cyclops System, ZAFT was undeterred and continued to engage the Earth Alliance's space forces, to further reduce the Alliance's military presence in space. The Republic of East Asia's resource asteroid Nova in Lagrange Point 4 soon became the newest target for ZAFT.

On June 14th C.E. 70, ZAFT forces advanced to L4 and laid siege to Nova. While the initial fighting between ZAFT and the Republic broke out around the asteroid base, the fighting continued over several weeks, and many civilian space colonies in Lagrange Point 4 became devastated or destroyed as a result of collateral damage. Eventually the entire civilian population of the colonies had to be evacuated.