2011–13 sectarian violence in Iraq following the US invasion and withdrawal
This article is about the insurgency in Iraq after the withdrawal of US troops. For the ongoing insurgency in Iraq after the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, seeISIL insurgency in Iraq (2017–present). For the insurgency in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003, seeIraqi insurgency (2003–2011).
U.S. and Kuwaiti troops unite to close the gate between Kuwait and Iraq after the last military convoy passed through on Dec. 18, 2011, signaling the end ofOperation New Dawn and the beginning of the post-U.S. phase of the insurgency
Date
18 December 2011 – 30 December 2013 (2 years, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Iraq (mostly central and northern, includingBaghdad)
Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation: 2,000–3,000[6] Islamic Army in Iraq: 10,400 (2007)[7] Al-Qaeda: 1,000–2,000[8] JRTN: 1,500-5,000[9]
Casualties and losses
1,156 policemen and 949 soldiers killed 2,286 policemen and 1,759 soldiers wounded
919+ insurgents killed, 3,504 arrested
6,746 civilians killed and 10,511 wounded; 9,770 people killed in total (Government figures, December 2011 – December 2013)[10] 14,855 civilians killed (Iraq body count figures, December 2011 – December 2013)[11]
TheIraqi insurgency was aninsurgency that began in late 2011 after the end of theIraq War and thewithdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, resulting in violent conflict with the central government, as well as low-level sectarian violence amongIraq's religious groups.
The insurgency was a direct continuation of events following theU.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.Sunni militant groups stepped up attacks targeting the country's majorityShia population to undermine confidence in the Shia-led government and its efforts to protect people without coalition assistance.[12] Many Sunni factions stood against the Syrian government, which Shia groups moved to support, and numerous members of both sects also crossed the border to fight in Syria.[13]
The Iraq War[nb 1] was a protracted armed conflict that began with theU.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which toppled the government ofSaddam Hussein. However, the war continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to opposethe occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government.[19] The United States officiallywithdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011, but the insurgency and various dimensions of the civil armed conflict continued.
The invasion began in 2003 when the United States, joined by the United Kingdom and several coalition allies, launched a "shock and awe" surprise attack without declaring war. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as U.S. forces swept throughout the country. The invasion led to the collapse of theBa'athist government;Saddam was captured, and he wasexecuted by a military court three years later. However, the power vacuum following Saddam's fall, the mismanagement ofthe occupation and the sectarian policies of various militias[20] led to alengthy insurgency against U.S., coalition forces and Iraqi government forces as well as widespreadsectarian violence betweenShias andSunnis. The United States responded with atroop surge in 2007; the heavy American security presence and deals made between the occupying forces andSunni militias reduced the level of violence. The U.S. began withdrawing its troops in the winter of 2007–2008. The winding down of U.S. involvement in Iraq accelerated underPresidentBarack Obama. The U.S. withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by 2011.[21]
TheBush administration based itsrationale for war principally on the assertion thatIraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and that Saddam's government posed an immediate threat to the United States and its coalition allies.[22][23] Some U.S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supportingal-Qaeda,[24] while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship and bring democracy to the people of Iraq.[25][26] After the invasion, however, no evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavycriticism within the U.S. and internationally.
As a result of the war, Iraq held itsmulti-party elections in 2005, andNouri al-Maliki later becamePrime Minister the following year. The Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the country's Sunni minority, which worsened sectarian tensions. In 2014, ISIS launched amilitary offensive in Northern Iraq and later declared a worldwide Islamic caliphate, eliciting anothermilitary response from the United States and its allies. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian and military casualties (seeestimates). The majority of the casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007.
As previously planned, the last US combat troops were withdrawn from Iraq in 2011, with security responsibility in the hands of theIraqi Armed Forces. On 15 December, martial closing ceremony was held in Baghdad putting a formal end to the U.S. mission in Iraq. This ceased direct U.S. combat involvement in the war.[27][28][29] The last 500 soldiers left Iraq under cover of darkness and under strict secrecy early on the morning of 18 December 2011, ending the U.S. military presence in Iraq after nearly nine years.[30][31][32][33][34] On 22 December 2011 at least 72 civilians were killed and more than 170 wounded in aseries of bombings across Baghdad, while nine others died in various attacks inBaqubah,Mosul andKirkuk.
On 5 January, suicide bombings took place inBaghdad andNasiriyah, killing 73 and leaving 149 injured. The bombing in the southern Iraqi city was targeted at crowds of Shi'ite Muslims and killed at least 44, injuring more than 80 others. It was the first major attack in Nasiriyah sincea suicide attack against an Italian army base killed 28 in November 2003, including 19 Italians. ISIS claimed responsibility.
On 14 January, asuicide bomber detonated his explosives amid a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims inBasra, killing 53 and injuring 141. This was the deadliest attack in the city sincecar bombs in April 2004 killed at least 74.
On 27 January, asuicide bomber attacked a funeral procession in Baghdad's Zaafaraniyah district, killing 32 and injuring more than 70 others.[12]
23 February: Aseries of attacks across 15 Iraqi cities left 83 killed and more than 250 injured. ISIS claimed responsibility two days later.
5 March: A gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 27 police and then hoisted the battle flag ofal-Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning attack inAnbar Governorate.[35]
20 March: Awave of attacks centered on Baghdad and Kerbala killed at least 52 and left more than 250 injured. ISIS claimed responsibility.[35]
19 April: More than 20 bombs exploded across Iraq, killing at least 36 people and wounding almost 170.[36] ISIS claimed responsibility.[36]
4 June: A suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded almost 200 at the offices of a Shiite foundation in Baghdad, sparking fears of sectarian strife at a time of political crisis. The attack in the center of the capital was followed later by an explosion near a Sunni religious foundation, causing no casualties.[37]
30 September: A string of attacks occur in at least 10 Iraqi cities, killing 37 and injuring more than 90 others, most of them civilians.[50]
27 October: A wave of attacks during theEid al-Adha holiday across Iraq killed at least 46 and left 123 injured. Most incidents occurred in Baghdad,Taji,Mosul andMuqdadiya.[51]
28 October: A car bombing during the last day of Eid left 15 people dead and 33 injured in Baghdad.[52]
6 November: A car bombing outside an army base inTaji killed 31 people and injured at least 50 others, most of them soldiers. The blast struck as troops were leaving the base and potential recruits were lining up for job interviews.[53][54]
14 November: Insurgents staged a number of attacks on the eve of theIslamic New Year, killing 29 and injuring at least 194 others. The deadliest incidents took place inKirkuk andHilla, where at least seven bombings killed 19 and left 129 wounded. Other attacks took place in Baghdad,Mosul,Kut, Fallujah andBaqubah.[55]
27 November: At least 29 people are killed and 126 wounded in eight car bombings across Iraq.[56]
After a period of calm, renewed political tension within Iraq led to renewed protests, this time mostly centered around the country's Sunni minority. The main cause for upheaval was the ongoing standoff between Vice PresidentTareq al-Hashemi and Prime Minister al-Maliki, but strained relationships with the Kurdish autonomous regions added to the scene. On December 23, 2012, several thousand Iraqis marched against al-Maliki, responding to his moves against al-Hashemi and other influential Sunni leaders.[57]
On 4 January, a car bombing inMusayyib killed 28 Shi'ite pilgrims and injured 60 others as they were returning fromKarbala.[58][59] In mid-January, a suicide bomber killed a prominent Sunni MP and six others in Fallujah, two days afterFinance MinisterRafi al-Issawi survived an assassination attempt in the same city. The parliamentarian, Ayfan Sadoun al-Essawi, was an important member of theSons of Iraq committee in Fallujah and part of the opposition to Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki.[60] A suicide truck-bomber also attacked the headquarters of theKurdistan Democratic Party inKirkuk, killing 26 and leaving 204 injured. A similar attack against another Kurdish office inTuz Khormato killed 5 and wounded 40.[61][62] Later that month, a suicide bomber blew himself up during a funeral for a politician's relative in the city of Tuz Khormato, killing 42 and leaving 75 others wounded.[63] In addition, protests bySunni Muslims in Iraq against the government of Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki turned deadly in Fallujah, as soldiers opened fire on a crowd of rock-throwing demonstrators, killing 7 and injuring more than 70 others. Three soldiers were later shot to death in retaliation for the incident, and clashes erupted in Askari, on the eastern outskirts of Fallujah. Security forces were placed on high alert as a curfew and vehicle ban were brought into effect. In a statement, Maliki urged both sides to show restraint and blamed the incident on unruly protesters. He also warned that it could lead to a "rise in tension that al-Qaida and terrorist groups are trying to take advantage of".[64][65]
In February, a suicide car-bomber detonated his vehicle near the provincial police headquarters inKirkuk, killing at least 36 and injuring 105 others. Among the wounded was Major General Jamal Tahir, the city's chief of police, who had surviveda previous attack at almost the same spot two years earlier. Three additional attackers were killed after the initial blast, as they attempted to throw grenades at security forces. Several officers who survived the attack reported that the first bomber was driving a police car and wearing a uniform. When guards at the gate stopped him to check his credentials, he detonated his explosives.[66][67]
In early March, unidentified gunmen ambushed aSyrian Army convoy escorted by Iraqi soldiers in theBattle of Akashat, killing 48 Syrians and 13 Iraqis. The assault took place near the desert border between the two nations in Iraq'sAl Anbar Governorate. Authorities suspected theFree Iraqi Army,Jabhat al-Nusra, oral-Qaeda in Iraq of being behind the attack.[68] A week later, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that they had "annihilated" a "column of theSafavid army," a reference to the Shia Persian dynasty that ruled Iran from 1501 to 1736. The group also claimed that the presence of Syrian soldiers in Iraq showed "firm co-operation" between the Syrian and Iraqi governments.[69] In mid-March, a series ofcoordinated attacks across the capital Baghdad and several major cities in the north and central parts of the country killed at least 98 people and left 240 others injured. The wave of violence was directed mostly at Shia civilians and took place on the tenth anniversary of the beginning of theIraq War. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attacks.[70]
In April, a tanker bomb exploded at the police headquarters inTikrit, killing at least 42 people and injuring 67 others. Insurgents attacked an oil field near Akaz in a remote part ofAl Anbar Governorate, killing 2 engineers and kidnapping a third one. Other attacks across the country left a prison warden inMosul dead and 11 others injured, including the mayor ofTuz Khormato and at least four journalists, who were stabbed by unknown assailants in a series of attacks on media offices in the capital Baghdad.[71] Five days later, a suicide bomber killed 22 and injured 55 at a political rally for a local Sunni candidate inBaqubah.[72] On April 23,Iraqi Army units moved against an encampment set up by protesters inHawija, west of the city ofKirkuk, sparkingdeadly clashes and reprisal attacks across the country.[73] According to army officers, the operation was aimed at Sunni militants from theNaqshbandi Army, who were reportedly involved in the protests. A total of 42 people were killed and 153 others injured, with most of them being protesters - only 3 soldiers were confirmed dead and 7 others wounded.[73][74] The incident sparked a number of revenge attacks, that soon spread out across much of the country.Minister of Education Mohammed Tamim resigned from his post in response to the Army's operation, and was followed later by Science and Technology Minister Abd al-Karim al-Samarrai.[73] Insurgents from theNaqshbandi Army completely captured the town of Sulaiman Bek, about 170 km north of Baghdad, after heavy fighting with security forces on April 25, only to relinquish control of it a day later, while escaping with weapons and vehicles. More than 340 were killed and 600 others injured in the four days of heaviest violence, while attacks continued after that at a pace higher than earlier in the year.[75][76][77][78]
In late May, the Iraqi government launchesOperation al-Shabah (Phantom), with the stated aim of severing contact betweenAl-Qaeda in Iraq and the Syrianal-Nusra Front by clearing militants from the border area with Syria and Jordan.[79]
From January 2014 onwards, the rise of theIslamic State, a major belligerent in theSyrian Civil War, has transformed the insurgency into a regional war that includes Syria, Iran and a large coalition of Western and Arab forces led by the United States.
^The conflict is also known as theWar in Iraq, theOccupation of Iraq, theSecond Gulf War,Gulf War II, andGulf War 2. The period of the war lasting from 2003 to 2010 was referred to asOperation Iraqi Freedom by the United States military.
Cockburn, Patrick (3 March 2016)."End Times for the Caliphate?".London Review of Books.38 (5):29–30.Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved22 September 2017.
This list includesWorld War I and later conflicts (after 1914) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic, and conflicts with +100,000 killed with bold.
Sons of Iraq
United States
Islamic State of Iraq (ISIL since April 2013)
Islamic Army in Iraq
Naqshbandi Army
Masoud Barzani
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
Armenia – provided aid to persecuted Yazidis in Iraq in August 2014.[80]
Australia – Australia delivered humanitarian aid to Iraqi Kurds in August 2014.[81]
Austria[82][83]
Belgium[84]
Canada[85]
Denmark[86]
Estonia[87]
Finland[88]
France[89]
Germany[90]
Hungary[91]
Ireland[92]
Italy[93]
Luxembourg[94]
Netherlands[95]
Norway[96]
Poland[91][97]
Portugal[98]
Slovakia[99]
Spain[83]
Sweden[83]
Switzerland[100]
Turkey[101]
United Arab Emirates – UAE provided aid for Iraqi refugees in Kurdistan in August 2014.[102]
United Kingdom – UK announced that its planes were to drop emergency aid to Iraqi refugees in August 2014.[103]
