TheWar in Iraq (2013–2017) was an armed conflict betweenIraq and its allies and theIslamic State. Following December 2013, theinsurgency escalated into a full-scale war followingclashes in parts of western Iraq, which culminated in theIslamic State offensive into Iraq in June 2014, leading to the capture of the cities ofMosul,Tikrit and other cities in western and northern Iraq by the Islamic State. Between 4–9 June 2014, thecity of Mosul was attacked and later fell; following this,Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki called for a nationalstate of emergency on 10 June. However, despite the security crisis,Iraq's parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister's powers.[47] Ali Ghaidan, a former military commander in Mosul, accused al-Maliki of being the one who issued the order to withdraw from the city of Mosul.[48] At its height, ISIL held 56,000 square kilometers of Iraqi territory, containing 4.5 million citizens.[49]
The war resulted in the forced resignation of al-Maliki in 2014, as well as an airstrike campaign by the United States and a dozen other countries in support of theIraqi military,[50] participation of American and Canadian troops (predominantly special forces) in ground combat operations,[51][52] a $3.5 billion U.S.-led program to rearm theIraqi security forces,[53] a U.S.-led training program that provided training to nearly 200,000 Iraqi soldiers and police,[54] the participation of themilitary of Iran, including troops as well as armored and air elements,[55] and military and logistical aid provided to Iraq by Russia.[50] On 9 December 2017, Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi announced victory over the Islamic State.[56][57][58][59] The Islamic State switched to guerrilla "hit and run" tactics in an effort to undermine the Iraqi government's effort to eradicate it.[60][61][62] This conflict is interpreted by some in Iraq as aspillover of the Syrian civil war. Other Iraqis and observers see it mainly as a culmination of long-running local sectarianism, exacerbated by the 2003–2011Iraq War, the subsequent increase in anti-Sunni sectarianism under Prime Minister al-Maliki, and the ensuing bloody crack-down on the2012–2013 Iraqi protests.[63]
In early June 2014, following furtherlarge-scale offensives in Iraq, ISIL and their allies seized control ofMosul, the second most populous city in Iraq,[80] the nearby town ofTal Afar[81] and most of the surroundingNineveh Governorate.[82] ISIL also captured parts of Kirkuk and Diyala Governorates[83] andTikrit, the administrative center of the Salahuddin Governorate,[84] with the ultimate goal of capturingBaghdad, the Iraqi capital.[85] ISIL was believed to have only 2,000–3,000 fighters up until the Mosul campaign, but during that campaign, it became evident that this number was a gross underestimate.[86] There were also reports that the number of Sunni groups in Iraq that were opposed to the predominantly Shia government had joined ISIL, thus bolstering the group numbers.[87] However, theKurds—who are mostly Sunnis—in the northeast of Iraq, were unwilling to be drawn into the conflict, and there were clashes in the area between ISIL and the KurdishPeshmerga.[88][89]
On 12 June 2014 ISILkilled 1,700 unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets who were caught trying to flee to safety and released many images of mass executions via its Twitter feed and various websites.[90]
In late June, ISIL militants captured two key crossings in Anbar, a day after seizing the border crossing atAl-Qaim. According to analysts, capturing these crossings could aid ISIL in transporting weapons and equipment to different battlefields.[91] Two days later, theSyrian Air Force bombed ISIL positions in Iraq near the Al-Qaim border post. Iraqi Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki stated: "There was no coordination involved, but we welcome this action. We welcome any Syrian strike against Isis because this group targets both Iraq and Syria."[92]
At this point,The Jerusalem Post reported that theObama administration had requested US$500 million from theUS Congress to use in the training and arming of "moderate"Syrian rebels fighting against the Syrian government, in order to counter the growing threat posed by ISIL in Syria and Iraq.[93]
On 29 June, ISIL announced the establishment of a newcaliphate.Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was appointed itscaliph, and group formally changed its name to the Islamic State.[94] Four days later, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the new Islamic State, said that Muslims should unite to captureRome in order to "own the world."[95][96] He called on Muslims all over the world to unite behind him as their leader.[97]
On 24 July, ISIL blew up theMosque and tomb of the Prophet Yunus (Jonah) in Mosul,[98] with no reported casualties.[99] Residents in the area said that ISIL had erased a piece of Iraqi heritage.[100] Jonah's tomb was an important holy site in the Jewish heritage as well.[101] A few days later, ISIL also blew up the Nabi Shiyt (ProphetSeth) shrine inMosul. Sami al-Massoudi, deputy head of theShia endowment agency which oversees holy sites, confirmed the destruction and added that ISIL had taken artifacts from the shrine to an unknown location.[102]
In anAugust offensive, ISIL capturedSinjar after it wasabandoned by the Peshmerga, and a number of other towns in the north of the country. Almost 200,000 civilians, mostlyYazidis, managed to flee from the fighting in Sinjar city,[103][104] about 50,000 of them fled into theSinjar Mountains,[104] where they were trapped without food, water or medical care,[105] facing starvation and dehydration.[104] They had been threatened with death if they refused conversion to Islam. A UN representative said that "a humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar."[106] In addition, during this latest offensive, the Islamic State advanced to within 30 km of the Iraqi Kurdish capital ofErbil in northern Iraq.[107][108]
Prompted by the siege and killings of the Yazidis, on 7 August, President Obama authorizedtargeted airstrikes in Iraq against ISIL, along with airdrops of aid.[109] The UK offered the US assistance with surveillance and refueling, and planned humanitarian airdrops to Iraqi refugees.[110] The US asserted that the systematic destruction of the Yazidi people by the Islamic State was genocide.[111] The Arab League also accused the Islamic State of committing crimes against humanity.[112][113]
On 31 August, the United States, France, United Kingdom and Australia began humanitarian aid drops of food, water and medical supplies to help prevent a potential massacre against the ShiaTurkmen minority in Amirli. The US also carried out air strikes on ISIL positions around and near Amirli. Iraqi officials stated that they had reached Amirli and broken the siege and that the military was fighting to clear the areas around the town. This is known to be the first major turning point against ISIL inIraq.[120]
In September, the United States sent an additional 250 troops to protect American personnel,[121] while the first engagement of the British military against ISIL targets took place when a BritishPanavia Tornado jet dropped aPaveway IV bomb on "a heavy weapon position" operated by ISIL in northwest Iraq at the end of the month.[122] In addition, Australia offered 200 special forces to the Kurds[123] and 600 Australian troops landed in the UAE.[124][125] The following month, Australia authorized its special forces troops to go to Iraq as part of the anti-ISIL coalition that day,[126][127] as well as authorizing airstrikes.[128]
In mid-OctoberISIL forces captured the city of Hīt after the 300-strong Iraqi Army garrison abandoned and set fire to its local base and supplies. As a result, an estimated 180,000 civilians (including refugees of the previous Anbar offensive) attempted to flee the area.[129][130] Later that month,Operation Ashura was launched by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias, scoring a major victory and retaking the strategic town ofJurf al-Sakhar near Baghdad, and securing the way for millions of Shia pilgrims who were going to Karbala and Najaf On theDay of Ashura. Kurdish forces, meanwhile, recapturedZummar.[131]
On 21 October, ISIL seized terrain north of the Sinjar Mountains, thus cutting the area's escape route to Kurdish areas. The Yazidi militias then withdrew from there into the mountains, where the number of Yazidi civilian refugees was estimated at 2,000–7,000.[132] The mountains had once again been partially surrounded by ISIL.[133]
In mid-November, theIraqi army retook control of most of thestrategic city Baiji from the Islamic State[134][135] and broke the siege of the nearby oil refinery.[136] However, by the following month, ISIL recaptured Baiji and reestablished the siege of the refinery.[137][138][139]
On 17 December,Peshmerga forces, backed by 50 US-led coalition airstrikes on ISIL positions,[140] launched an offensive to liberate Sinjar[140] and to break the partial ISIL siege of the Sinjar Mountains.[133] In less than two days, the siege was broken. After ISIL forces retreated, Kurdish fighters were initially faced with the clearing out mines around the area,[141] but quickly opened a land corridor to those mountains, enabling Yazidis to be evacuated. The operation left 100 ISIL fighters dead.[140]
Later on 21 December, Syrian KurdishYPG fighters south of the mountain range reached Peshmerga lines, thus linking their two fronts.[133] The next day, the YPG broke through ISIL lines, thus opening a corridor fromSyria to the town of Sinjar. By the evening, the Peshmerga took control of much of Sinjar.[133]
On 2 March, theSecond Battle of Tikrit began[144] and after more than a month of hard fighting, Iraqi government troops and pro-Iranian Shiite militias overcame ISIL fighters and took Tikrit.[145] Shia groups claimed that they had killedIzzat Ibrahim al-Douri but this was later debunked[146] This success was off-set in late May, by ISIL's capture of the provincial capital of Ramadi in Anbar Governorate.[147]
On 13 August, a suicide bomberdetonated a truck bomb in a crowded marketplace inSadr City,Baghdad, killing at least 75 people and injuring 212 more.[150] On 27 August, a suicide bomber assassinated General Abdel Rahman Abu Ragheef, deputy commander of operations in the province of Anbar, and Brigadier Safeen Abdel Majeed, a divisional commander.[151]
ISIL forces lost Sinjar on November 13 to Kurdish forces.[152]
During 16–17 December, ISIL forces mounted amajor offensive north-east of Mosul against Kurdish position but were repelled.[153] Starting December 22, the Iraqi Army began a campaign to recaptureRamadi.[154] On December 28, Iraq declared Ramadi liberated from ISIL forces and under the control of the Iraqi government.[155]
In May, a member from theCanadian Special ForcesJoint Task Force 2 disrupted a Daesh attack on Iraqi security forces. The target was successfully hit at 3,540 metres from a high-rise, setting the world's longest recorded sniper kill.[164]
On 10 July, Iraqi Army forcescaptured Mosul.[165] Following the victory in Mosul, the Iraqi Army launched operations to sweep what remained of ISIL-controlled territory in the country. TheTal Afar offensive was launched on 20 August[166] and completed by 31 August with a major Iraqi Army victory.[167] TheHawija offensive started in late September and was complete by 5 October.[168]
In September 2017, aUnited Nations Security Council Resolution[169] was adopted to "Reaffirm its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and unity of Iraq".[169] Following the adoption of the resolution, a UN investigative team was established to document human rights violations and serious crimes committed byISIS in Iraq. However, by the end of 2018, the team had not yet launched its investigation.[170]
On 25 September,Kurdistan Region held anindependence referendum. Turnout was reported to be 72.83% with 92.73% voting in favor of independence from Iraq. In response to the referendum, the Iraqi Army launched a shortoffensive on 15 October against Kurdistan Region to recapture the disputed city of Kirkuk with the help of the Talabani family and some PUK members.[171] Following the defeat of the Peshmerga and the capture of Kirkuk andSinjar by theIraqi armed forces,[171][172]Masoud Barzani announced his intentions to step down asPresident of Kurdistan Region, effective 1 November, after being in power for 12 years. His gamble of pushing through with the referendum ended with the disputed territories being recaptured by Iraq and with the Kurdish statebuilding project being left abandoned.[173]
Iraqcaptured ISIL's last two strongholds ofAl-Qa'im andRawah[174] on 17 November.[175] After the Iraqi army had captured the last ISIL-held areas in the al-Jazira desert bordering Syria, on 9 December the prime minister announced the end of the war.[176][56] A victory parade was held "in Baghdad's heavily fortifiedGreen Zone" on the following day, and Prime Minister al-Abadi declared that 10 December would become a new annual holiday for Iraq.[177] However, other government officials and sources, such as theAustralian Government, British Defence SecretaryGavin Williamson, andReuters, warned that they expected ISIL to fight on by other means, such asguerilla warfare andterrorism.[57][58][59] Despite the victory announcements, ISIL retained its natural hideouts inWadi Hauran.[178]
Although the war was declared over, ISIL continued a lower-scaleinsurgency.
Months of relative calm in Baghdad ended with over 27 people killed by suicide bombers over a period of 3 days in mid-January 2018. Although there were no immediate claims of responsibility, it was reported that such attacks had usually been the work of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in the past, and that elements of the group were still active north of the city despite the government's claim of victory in December 2017.[179][180] On Wednesday January 17, two days afterthe two suicide bombings on January 15, IS "claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in Baghdad this week", though theNew York Times suggested that the delay, and a number of errors in the claim, may show that the group's "media apparatus has been disrupted".[181]
The Times meanwhile reported on 16 January that the Iraqi Army had launched an operation to oust ISIL from the Bosifian islands, a stronghold being used as a militant hideout. The hideout, located inSaladin governorate, was discovered in December and is one of the 10 patches where the group is still active. About 100 militants were killed by Iraqi forces in the past one week.[182] An operation was launched on 7 February to hunt down the remnants of ISIL inSaladin Governorate, as well as members ofAnsar al-Sunna and the "White Flags", a new insurgent group[183] reportedly consisting of former ISIL members and Kurdish mafia groups.[184]
Fighters of aself-defense group in northeastern Iraq in June 2018. ISIL still has a presence in remote areas of the country, often attacking small villages and forcing the locals to fight or flee.[185]
Despite these efforts, ISIL continued to hold out in the western desert[186][187][188] and wage an insurgency campaign against government forces in northern Iraq by mid-2018, most notably inDiyala andKirkuk Governorates. As the military could not protect the isolated hinterland of these regions, ISIL forces would repeatedly attack remote villages, defeating their self-defense groups, kidnap people for ransom and forcing local civilians to flee. Sometimes, ISIL fighters would even openly flaunt their presence, placing their flag at well visible points and driving around with motorcycles, cars, and technicals.[185] The group also targeted followers ofYarsanism (called Kaka'i in Iraq) around Kirkuk, whom the militants consider unbelievers.[189] In course of one notable attack, ISIL fighters raided a house in a village to the south of Shirqat on 11 March 2018, killing a tribal sheikh who led a Sunni militia against the group as well as three others.[190] In July 2018, the Iraqi Army, Popular Mobilization Forces and Peshmerga launched Operation "Vengeance for the Martyrs" to destroy ISIL remnants in Diyala and Kirkuk Governorates, supported by the Iraqi Air Force and US-led coalition.[191]
By April 2018, hundreds of ISIL fighters were still located in the Anbar desert.[192]
Following ISIL's defeat, the group has regardless continued an insurgency. However they have been greatly weakened and violence in Iraq has been sharply reduced in 2018. Only 95 people died during the month of May, the lowest figure in 10 years.[193]
A total of 7,366 of ISIL members have returned to their home countries, where some countries also agreed to bring unaccompanied children back.[194] According to a study by theEuropean Parliament in May 2018, around 30% of Western European ISIL members have returned to their countries, in which they would face a criminal investigation and risk assessment.[195]
In May 2019, three ISIL Frenchmen named Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou, were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court.[196]
Nearly 19,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq in ISIL-linked violence between January 2014 and October 2015.[197]ISIL executed up to 1,700 Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets fromCamp Speicher near Tikrit on 12 June 2014.[198] Thegenocide of Yazidis by ISIL has led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of theYazidi people from their ancestral lands in northern Iraq.[199]
According toNewsweek,Amnesty International claimed that "Iraqi government forces and paramilitary militias have tortured, arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared and executed thousands of civilians who have fled the rule of the Islamic State militant group".[200] The report, titledPunished for Daesh's crimes', alleges that thousands of Sunni men and boys have been forcibly disappeared by Iraqi government forces and militias.[201]
^"The Rise and Fall of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (Levant) ISIS"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 1 July 2015. Retrieved11 June 2017.The continued and even escalating sectarian tensions and acts like the demolition of demonstration camps led to an all-out revolt against the government institutions on the eve of the New Year 2014 in the western province Ramadi. ISIS seized this golden opportunity and gained control over a swath of territories in Anbar province, especially its two large cities, Ramadi and Fallujah.
^abMalcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister);Julie Bishop (Minister for Foreign Affairs);Marise Payne (Minister for Defence) (10 December 2017)."Liberation Of Iraq From ISIS". Department of Defence – Australian Government.Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved11 December 2017.The Australian Government congratulates the people of Iraq after Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi today announced that all areas of Iraq have been liberated from ISIS control. ... While today's announcement by the Iraqi government is an historic moment, Iraq's liberation does not mean the fight against terrorism and ISIS in Iraq is over. ISIS fighters who escaped capture will seek to conduct an insurgency to continue their legacy of death and destruction.
^ab"Theresa May hails 'historic moment' as Islamic State is driven out of Iraq". Derbyshire Times. 10 December 2017. Archived fromthe original on 2017-12-11. Retrieved11 December 2017.Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson praised Iraqi achievements but said Islamic State remained a threat. "The fight though isn't over, as the group continue to pose a threat from across the Syrian border. "They can plan and inspire terrorist attacks, which rally their branches worldwide and continue to inspire others at home and abroad to do us harm.
^abAboulenein, Ahmed (10 December 2017)."Iraq holds victory parade after defeating Islamic State".Reuters. Reuters. Archived fromthe original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved11 December 2017.Baghdad, Dec 10 (Reuters) – An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi looking on as troops marched in formation, their bodies spelling "victory day" in Arabic. ... The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare.
^Ahmed Aboulenein (10 December 2017)."Iraq holds victory parade after defeating Islamic State". Reuters.Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved11 December 2017.An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday
^Euan McKirdy; Hamdi Alkhshali (15 January 2018)."27 dead, dozens injured, in Baghdad double suicide bombing". CNN.Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved16 January 2018.Monday marked the second deadly attack to hit the city in just three days. ... the city has experienced a period of relative calm for months.
^"27 killed, 64 wounded in Baghdad bomb blast".RTÉ. 15 January 2018.Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved16 January 2018.There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but most such attacks in Iraq are the work of the so-called Islamic State militant group. ... Elements of the group are still active north of Baghdad.
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