2014 In the course of their
Anbar campaign,
ISIL militants and their Baathist allies seized at least 70% of Al Anbar Governorate by June 2014, including the cities of
Fallujah,
Al Qaim, and half of the provincial capital of
Ramadi. ISIL forces also infiltrated
Abu Ghraib in
Baghdad Governorate. In early June 2014, following further
large-scale offensives in Iraq, ISIL and their allies seized control of
Mosul, the second most populous city in Iraq, the nearby town of
Tal Afar and most of the surrounding
Nineveh Governorate. ISIL also captured parts of Kirkuk and Diyala Governorates and
Tikrit, the administrative center of the Salahuddin Governorate, with the ultimate goal of capturing
Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. 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. 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. However, the
Kurds—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 Kurdish
Peshmerga. On 12 June 2014 ISIL
killed 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. (red) in
Iraq and
Syria by mid-2014 In late June, ISIL militants captured two key crossings in Anbar, a day after seizing the border crossing at
Al-Qaim. According to analysts, capturing these crossings could aid ISIL in transporting weapons and equipment to different battlefields. Two days later, the
Syrian Air Force bombed ISIL positions in Iraq near the Al-Qaim border post. Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri 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." At this point,
The Jerusalem Post reported that the
Obama administration had requested US$500 million from the
U.S. 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. On 29 June, ISIL announced the establishment of a new
caliphate.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was appointed its
caliph, and group formally changed its name to the Islamic State. Four days later, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the new Islamic State, said that Muslims should unite to capture
Rome in order to "own the world." He called on Muslims all over the world to unite behind him as their leader. On 24 July, ISIL blew up the
Mosque and tomb of the Prophet Yunus (Jonah) in Mosul, with no reported casualties. Residents in the area said that ISIL had erased a piece of Iraqi heritage. Jonah's tomb was an important holy site in the Jewish heritage as well. A few days later, ISIL also blew up the Nabi Shiyt (Prophet
Seth) shrine in
Mosul. Sami al-Massoudi, deputy head of the
Shia endowment agency which oversees holy sites, confirmed the destruction and added that ISIL had taken artifacts from the shrine to an unknown location. In an
August offensive, ISIL captured
Sinjar after it was
abandoned by the Peshmerga, and a number of other towns in the north of the country. Almost 200,000 civilians, mostly
Yazidis, managed to flee from the fighting in Sinjar city, facing starvation and dehydration. They had been threatened with death if they refused conversion to Islam. A UN representative said that "a humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar." In addition, during this latest offensive, the Islamic State advanced to within 30 km of the Iraqi Kurdish capital of
Erbil in northern Iraq. Prompted by the siege and killings of the Yazidis, on 7 August, President Obama authorized
targeted airstrikes in Iraq against ISIL, along with airdrops of aid. The UK offered the U.S. assistance with surveillance and refueling, and planned humanitarian airdrops to Iraqi refugees. The U.S. asserted that the systematic destruction of the Yazidi people by the Islamic State was genocide. The Arab League also accused the Islamic State of committing crimes against humanity. On 13 August, U.S. airstrikes and Kurdish ground forces broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar. Also, five days later,
Iraqi Special Operations Forces with Kurdish
Peshmerga and U.S. air support, overran ISIL militants and reclaimed the Mosul Dam. 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 Shia
Turkmen minority in Amirli. The U.S. 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 in
Iraq. In September, the United States sent an additional 250 troops to protect American personnel, while the first engagement of the British military against ISIL targets took place when a British
Panavia Tornado jet dropped a
Paveway IV bomb on "a heavy weapon position" operated by ISIL in northwest Iraq at the end of the month. In addition, Australia offered 200 special forces to the Kurds and 600 Australian troops landed in the UAE. The following month, Australia authorized its special forces troops to go to Iraq as part of the anti-ISIL coalition that day, as well as authorizing airstrikes. In mid-October
ISIL 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. Later that month,
Operation Ashura was launched by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias, scoring a major victory and retaking the strategic town of
Jurf al-Sakhar near Baghdad, and securing the way for millions of Shia pilgrims who were going to Karbala and Najaf On the
Day of Ashura. Kurdish forces, meanwhile, recaptured
Zummar. 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. The mountains had once again been partially surrounded by ISIL. In mid-November, the
Iraqi army retook control of most of the
strategic city Baiji from the Islamic State and broke the siege of the nearby oil refinery. However, by the following month, ISIL recaptured Baiji and reestablished the siege of the refinery. On 17 December,
Peshmerga forces, backed by 50 US-led coalition airstrikes on ISIL positions, and to break the partial ISIL siege of the Sinjar Mountains. but quickly opened a land corridor to those mountains, enabling Yazidis to be evacuated. The operation left 100 ISIL fighters dead. Furthermore, 21 January saw the launching of the
Mosul offensive in which
Peshmerga forces captured large amount of territory surrounding
Mosul. On 2 March, the
Second Battle of Tikrit began and after more than a month of hard fighting, Iraqi government troops and pro-Iranian Shiite militias overcame ISIL fighters and took Tikrit. Shia groups claimed that they had killed
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri but this was later debunked This success was off-set in late May, by ISIL's capture of the provincial capital of Ramadi in Anbar Governorate. fighters after
counter-insurgency operations in
Saladin Governorate, April 2015 On 17 July, a
suicide bomber
detonated a car bomb in a crowded marketplace in the city of
Khan Bani Saad during
Eid al-Fitr celebrations, killing 120–130 people and injuring 130 more. Twenty more people were reported missing since the bombing. On 13 August, a suicide bomber
detonated a truck bomb in a crowded marketplace in
Sadr City,
Baghdad, killing at least 75 people and injuring 212 more. 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. ISIL forces lost Sinjar on November 13 to Kurdish forces. During 16–17 December, ISIL forces mounted a
major offensive north-east of Mosul against Kurdish position but were repelled. Starting December 22, the Iraqi Army began a campaign to recapture
Ramadi. On December 28, Iraq declared Ramadi liberated from ISIL forces and under the control of the Iraqi government.
2016 Iraqi armed forces regained control of
Hīt and
Ar-Rutbah in offensive operations in 2016 and then Fallujah as well in the
Third Battle of Fallujah ending in June 2016. On 16 October 2016, the
Battle of Mosul began.
2017 The
2017 Mosul massacre was the largest single death toll inflicted by a coalition air strike since the
2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. forces. In April, the
Iraqi Army, with the help of the
Popular Mobilization Forces, launched the
Western Nineveh offensive to capture territory west of Mosul. The PMU were able to reach the
Iraq–Syria border, meeting up with territory controlled by the
Syrian Democratic Forces. In May, a member from the
Canadian Special Forces Joint 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. On 10 July, Iraqi Army forces
captured Mosul. Following the victory in Mosul, the Iraqi Army launched operations to sweep what remained of ISIL-controlled territory in the country. The
Tal Afar offensive was launched on 20 August and completed by 31 August with a major Iraqi Army victory. The
Hawija offensive started in late September and was complete by 5 October. In September 2017, a
United Nations Security Council Resolution was adopted to "Reaffirm its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and unity of Iraq". On 25 September,
Kurdistan Region held an
independence 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 short
offensive on 15 October against Kurdistan Region to recapture the disputed city of Kirkuk with the help of the Talabani family and some PUK members. Following the defeat of the Peshmerga and the capture of Kirkuk and
Sinjar by the
Iraqi armed forces,
Masoud Barzani announced his intentions to step down as
President 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. Iraq
captured ISIL's last two strongholds of
Al-Qa'im and
Rawah on 17 November. 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. A victory parade was held "in Baghdad's heavily fortified
Green Zone" on the following day, and Prime Minister al-Abadi declared that 10 December would become a new annual holiday for Iraq. However, other government officials and sources, such as the
Australian Government, British Defence Secretary
Gavin Williamson, and
Reuters, warned that they expected ISIL to fight on by other means, such as
guerilla warfare and
terrorism. Despite the victory announcements, ISIL retained its natural hideouts in
Wadi Hauran. == Aftermath ==