Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)

Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)
Part of the Iraq conflict (2003–present)

Fighters of a self-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.[1]
Date9 December 2017 – present
(10 months, 1 week and 3 days)
LocationIraq
Status Ongoing
Belligerents

Islamic State

White Flags

Iraqi Baath Party[3]
Allied Tribes

 Iraq

Rojava (Cross-border cooperation since May 2018)[5]
CJTF-OIR

Supported by:
 Iran[6]
 NATO

 Kurdistan

Supported by:
 Netherlands[7]
Commanders and leaders

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Leader of ISIL)
Abu Fatima al-Jaheishi (Deputy leader of ISIL in Iraq)
Abu Ahmad al-Alwani (Military Council member)
Hiwa Chor (Leader of the White Flags)[8]

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (Chairman of the Iraqi Baath Party)

Haidar al-Abadi (Prime Minister of Iraq)
Barham Salih (President of Iraq 2 October 2018–Present)
Fuad Masum (President of Iraq, 2014-2018)
Falih Alfayyadh (Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces)
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis
(Deputy Chairman of Popular Mobilization Committee)
Qais Khazali (Secretary-General of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq)
Hadi al-Amiri (Leader of Badr Organization)
Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei (Supreme Leader of Iran)
Hassan Rouhani (President of Iran)
Donald Trump (President of United States)
Lt. Gen. Paul LaCamera (Current Commander of CJTF-OIR)
Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada)

Masoud Barzani (Commander-in-Chief of Peshmerga)
Maj. Gen. Sirwan Barzani (Peshmerga Commander, Kirkuk region)
Units involved

Islamic State

Iraqi Baath Party

 Iraq

CJTF-OIR

 Kurdistan

Strength

Islamic State:
15,500-17,100[10]
White Flags:
500-1,000[11]

Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order:
80,000 (2015 estimate)[12][13]
Tribal Fighters:
120,000		  Iraq Iraqi Armed Forces:
168,000 (plus 150,000 Popular Mobilization Forces)[14]
 United States:
5,000 and 150 Marines[15]
Casualties and losses
Unknown 927+ killed or injured (ISIL claim)
3 killed 4 wounded (ISIL claim)

The Iraqi Insurgency (2017–present) is an insurgency that began in late 2017 after multiple defeats of ISIL, causing it to lose its territorial control, by the Iraqi military and allied paramilitary forces largely backed by Iran.

Background

The insurgency is a direct continuation of the Iraqi Civil War from 2014 to 2017, with mostly Sunni rebel groups continuing armed opposition against the Shia-led Iraqi Government. Along with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), other insurgents fighting the government include a group known as the White Flags which is reportedly composed of former ISIL members and Kurdish rebels and is believed by the government of Iraq to be part of Ansar al-Islam and possibly affiliated with al-Qaeda.[8] The group operates mostly in the Kirkuk Governorate and has used an assortment of guerilla tactics against government forces. Other factions opposed to the Iraqi government include the Iraqi Baath Party currently led by Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri a former official to Saddam Hussein during his rule in Iraq and has been active in Iraq's conflict since the US-led invasion in 2003 leading multiple factions including the Naqshbandi Army and Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation.

Course of the Insurgency

Since ISIL's loss of Mosul in late 2017 which was declared as Iraq's victory over ISIL and widely seen as an end to the civil war, and declared as such by Iraq's Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi,[16] multiple incidents of violence have occurred being carried out by the conflicting sides, in spite Iraq's declaration of victory over ISIL the group is widely seen as far from gone and continues to retain a presence throughout Iraq, and still capable of carrying out attacks and skirmishes with pro-government forces.[17] ISIL has been waging a guerrilla war with a strong presence in the governorates of Kirkuk, Diyala, Saladin, and the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, with local forces largely ill-equipped and inexperienced, ISIL has also taken advantage of the areas rough terrain to carryout operations. ISIL has also made a notable presence in the cities of Kirkuk, Hawija and Tuz Khurmato and has carried out attacks at night in rural areas.

ISIL fighters also reportedly move through villages during the day without interference from security forces, and locals have been asked by ISIL to give fighters food and give information on the whereabouts of Iraqi personnel, locals have also stated that ISIL fighters will frequently enter into Mosques and ask for Zakat to fund the insurgency. Among ISIL's operations include assassinations, kidnappings, raids and ambushes.[18]

According to The Pentagon ISIL is stronger than it was between 2006–2007 when the group declared the Islamic State of Iraq during its incarnation as al-Qaeda in Iraq.[19]

Timeline

2018

Between January and February 2018, Iraqi security forces and Peshmerga clashed with the White Flags around parts of the Kirkuk and Saladin governorates for control of oil fields which the Iraqi government claims the group's priority is. The Iraqi government said in the clashes the composition of the White Flag's fighters are ISIL members and individuals linked to the Kurdish mafia, the government also alleges that the Kurdish Regional Government allowed oil theft to occur in the area while it was under their control and enabled ISIL for their own interests.[11]

In March 2018, In two separate attacks ISIL reportedly killed 10 individuals including a pro-government Sunni tribal Sheikh along with his son and guests at his house in the town of Al-Shirqat south of Mosul, in the other attack ISIL killed 5 individuals from the same family whom were Iraqi Turkmen and Shia at a fake checkpoint set up by the group posing as Iraqi security forces.[20]

On 22 March 2018, At a checkpoint set up by ISIL the group killed six individuals and injured 15 others from the Iraqi Turkmen minority on their way to Erbil from Baghdad between Tuz Khurmato and Daquq to celebrate Nowruz, the attack was condemned by Turkey and Zowaa claimed one of their MPs was present during the attack but managed to escape unharmed.[21]

In June 2018, The Popular Mobilization Forces took part in a cross-border battle in Syria to assist Pro-Syrian Government forces and militias including Hezbollah and Russian mercenaries against ISIL in their offensive on the border town of Albu Kamal. The Israeli Air Force later targeted the area on 19 June and large concentration of Iranian backed groups.[22][23][24] During the same month the Government of Canada announced that it will suspened Canadian support for Peshmerga and work exclusively with the Iraqi government, in a statement a Canadian military official said “We have changed … partners,”, a Canadian General told reporters about the shift in support “Training with the Peshmerga was ceased when it was no longer of any value in terms of the battle against Da’esh [IS].”[25]

On 11 July 2018, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would lead a NATO mission to Iraq with European allies to send 250 Canadian soldiers to Baghdad, 50 will be doing the actual training while the other 125 will be doing force protection and another 20 will help run Canadian headquarters in Baghdad.[26]

On 4 August 2018, Chairman of the Iraqi Baath Party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri in a statement broadcast on Facebook in commemoration of the anniversary of the Baath Party called on Iraqis to continue fighting the Iraqi government and allied Iranian backed groups calling them Safavids, he also called on Saudi Arabia to intervene against Iran's influence in Iraq and praised the country. And condemned the battle of Mosul and other battles that led up to it and claimed that Haidar al-Abadi had ordered the destruction of the cities of Ramadi, Tikrit, Fallujah and others.[27]

On 11 August 2018, ISIL launched an attack from the Hamrin Mountains on the village of Albu Juwari north of Baiji, in the assault a militia fighter affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces in the village, in an interview with PressTV, claimed that in the clashes 5 of his family members were killed by ISIL and a sixth was left critically injured.[28]

On 6 September 2018, Mortar fire was reported near the US embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone from a neighborhood controlled by the Popular Mobilization Force's component Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, a Shia paramilitary group backed by Iran, the group fired 120mm mortars, no casualties or injuries were reported, the embassy did take security measures in response to the attack.[29]

On 26 September 2018, an Iraqi commander with the Popular Mobilization Force's 21st Brigade survived an ISIL assassination attempt that included the use of a roadside IED in the Mutaibija region of Saladin, while he did survive three of his guard were reported wounded, ISIL reportedly continues to carryout sporadic clashes with its campaign being compared to the one they carried out in 2013 eventually leading to the 2014 civil war.[30]

On 1 October 2018, A roadside bomb planted by ISIL in the Kirkuk Governorate near Hawija killed an Iraqi police officer and wounded two others.[31] On the same day ISIL published photos of a night raid in the village of Daquq, in the southern part of the Kirkuk Governorate, showing fighters burning down the house of a village elder cooperating with the Iraqi government.[32] ISIL also carried out a series of attacks targeting electrical facilities to sabotage the electrical grid to cutoff electricity for the Iraqi military and allied forces around Kirkuk, ISIL fighters also planted explosives around several transmission towers, the destruction of the towers caused several blackouts in Hawija and Kirkuk.[33]

On 3 October 2018, The Government of Germany announced a planned extension of its military involvement in Iraq for one year to combat ISIL but will end air reconnaissance missions by 31 October 2019.[34] On the same day unknown gunmen believed to be ISIL, killed an individual by driving up to them in a car and opening fire, the targeted individual reportedly died on the spot as a result of the gunshot wounds.[35]

On 4 October 2018, An operation against ISIL was started by the Iraqi military along with the military forces of France and the United States under the CJTF-OIR coalition in the Anbar Governorate around the city of Qaim and the Syrian border where ISIL continues to operate and maintain a strong and large presence.[36] During the operation ISIL claimed to thwart an American-led assault near the Syrian border and also claimed to have killed 3 US soldiers and wounded 4 others in the clashes, the US military has not confirmed or denied the claimed losses.[37]

On 5 October 2018, US-led Coalition planes bombed an ISIL position in the village of Kushaf near the Tigris river in the Kirkuk Governorate, reportedly killing 6 ISIL members, on the same day ISIL detonated a roadside bomb killing an oil employee and injuring 11 others in a bus in Baiji in the Saladin Governorate, and in a separate attack in Fallujah in the Anbar Governorate ISIL detonated a car bomb injuring an Iraqi policeman and 3 others.[38] ISIL released a video from Kirkuk, that showed its fighters planting IEDs, as well as carrying out ambushes and raids on Iraqi outposts. The video also claimed that the group has killed and injured more than 927 government forces since 2017 in the Kirkuk region, and in the end video the group executed several individuals in remote areas and assassinated two individuals cooperating with the Iraqi government at their houses.[39]

On 7 October 2018, ISIL claimed responsibility for the use of an explosive device in the Kadhimiya neighborhood of Baghdad that resulted in the death and injury of 12 Shiites.[40][41]

On 8 October 2018, Iraq's interior minister Qasim al-Araji in a video posted on his Facebook page claimed that an unnamed extremist group is behind the murder of a 22 year-old Iraqi model who won Miss Baghdad in 2015 and was shot while driving her car while she was in Baghdad in September.[42] On the same day ISIL militants shot dead two Iraqi Policemen at a checkpoint near Mosul, and fled the scene afterwards.[43]

On 9 October 2018, 4 Popular Mobilization Forces militia fighters were killed in an attack by ISIL in the Hit district of the Anbar Governorate.[44]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dilshad Anwar (13 June 2018). "Iraqis Flee Homes Amid New IS Insurgency". Voice of America. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad. "Islamic State Shifts From Provinces and Governance to Global Insurgency".
  3. ↑ "VIDEO: Iraqi protesters burn pictures of Khomeini in Basra". english.alarabiya.net.
  4. ↑ "For this Iraqi tribe massacred by Isis, the fear never truly goes away".
  5. ↑ Editorial, Reuters. "U.S.-backed Syrian forces resume battle against Islamic State".
  6. ↑ "Iraqi Militant Qayis Khazali Warned Us About Iran. We Ignored Him". 7 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Kurdistan24. "Dutch army to continue support for Kurdish Peshmerga forces".
  8. 1 2 "A 'post-ISIS insurgency' is gaining steam in Iraq".
  9. ↑ "النقشبندية يقرر ضرب محاولات تغيير التركيبة المذهبية للمدن العراقية". 2 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Keller, Jared (15 August 2018). "ISIS Has Just As Many Fighters In Iraq And Syria As It Did 4 Years Ago".
  11. 1 2 "No surrender: 'White Flags' group rises as new threat in northern Iraq".
  12. ↑ Network, Thierry Meyssan,Voltaire. "The illusion of the eradication of Daesh, by Thierry Meyssan".
  13. ↑ Freeman, Colin (18 May 2013). "Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri: the King of Clubs is back, and he may yet prove to be Saddam Hussein's trump card" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  14. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/lizsly. "Pro-Iran militias' success in Iraq could undermine U.S." Washington Post.
  15. ↑ Arraf, Jane. "Along The Iraq-Syria Border, U.S. Troops Focus On Defeating ISIS".
  16. ↑ Chmaytelli, Maher. "Iraq declares final victory over Islamic State".
  17. ↑ "ISIS returns to Iraq, and a town confronts a new wave of terror". PBS NewsHour.
  18. ↑ Foltyn, Simona (16 September 2018). "The Underground Caliphate: ISIS Has Not Vanished. It Is Fighting a Guerrilla War Against the Iraqi State".
  19. ↑ "The Pentagon says ISIS is "well-positioned" to make a comeback".
  20. ↑ Al-awsat, Asharq. "Iraq: At Least 10 Killed in Two ISIS Attacks". aawsat.com.
  21. ↑ "Turkey condemns 'heinous terror attack' near Tuz Khurmatu".
  22. ↑ "PressTV-Iraqi PMU fighters hit Daesh positions in eastern Syria".
  23. ↑ "52 Pro-Regime Militias Killed in Syria's Abu Kamal Cross-Fights Overnight". 19 June 2018.
  24. ↑ Sputnik. "Israel Did That! US Official Blames Syria Strike on IDF". sputniknews.com.
  25. ↑ Kurdistan24. "Canada drops operation with Peshmerga to work exclusively with Iraqi forces".
  26. ↑ "Trudeau announces Canadian-led NATO mission in Iraq as Trump complains about defence spending" – via The Globe and Mail.
  27. ↑ "Saddam's 'king of clubs' reappears on Baath anniversary".
  28. ↑ "PressTV-Daesh remnants kill 5 members of family in central Iraq".
  29. ↑ "Officials say reported mortar explosions in Baghdad happened near a US Embassy".
  30. ↑
  31. ↑
  32. ↑ "As part of its (old/new) tactics after the caliphate, ISIS burns the homes of a mukhtar (town elder) and another person south of Kirkuk for working with or informing authorities - Iraq news map in English - News from Baghdad, Anbar, Kirkuk, Nineveh, Kurdistan regions - iraq.liveuamap.com". Iraq news map in English - News from Baghdad, Anbar, Kirkuk, Nineveh, Kurdistan regions - iraq.liveuamap.com.
  33. ↑
  34. ↑ (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Germany extends military mandate in Iraq - DW - 02.10.2018". DW.COM.
  35. ↑
  36. ↑ "ISIL fighters still operate around Anbar". www.aljazeera.com.
  37. ↑ "ISIS claims to have foiled US military landing near Syrian border". 20 September 2018.
  38. ↑ "Coalition airstrikes kill 6 ISIS near Tigris: Peshmerga".
  39. ↑ "New video message from The Islamic State: "And Sit In Wait For Them At Every Place – Wilāyat al-'Irāq, Kirkūk"". 5 October 2018.
  40. ↑ "Report" (PDF). pbs.twimg.com.
  41. ↑
  42. ↑
  43. ↑ "Two Iraqi policemen killed in Islamic State attack on Mosul checkpoint". www.iraqinews.com. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  44. ↑ "مقتل واصابة 4 عناصر من الجيش والحشد اثر اعتداء ارهابي في هيت". iraqnewsapp.com.
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