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Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)

October 02, 2023

Not to be confused with Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014).

The Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) began on 4 June 2014, when the Islamic State began a major offensive from its territory in Syria into Iraq against Iraqi and Kurdish forces, following earlier clashes that had begun in December 2013 involving guerillas.

Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)
Part of the War in Iraq

Map of the offensive
Date4–25 June 2014
(2 weeks and 6 days)
Location
Nineveh, Kirkuk, Saladin, and Diyala Governorates
Result

Islamic State victory

Territorial
changes
  • Iraqi Government loses significant territories in northern Iraq to the Islamic State, including the region from Mosul to Tikrit and Tal Afar along with parts of Kirkuk and Diyala Governorates.[15]
  • Islamic State comes within 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the capital city of Baghdad[16]
  • A government counter-offensive leads to the recapture of territory north and west of Baghdad.[17][18]
  • Kurdish forces take control of Kirkuk, parts of northern Nineveh and north-eastern Diyala.[19]
    • Belligerents

    Republic of Iraq

    Syria (limited involvement)

    Iran[4]

    Supported by:
     United States[5][6]
     Russia[7]

     Kurdistan Region

    Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

    Assyrian/Syriac forces

    		Islamic State[12]
    Commanders and leaders

    Nouri al-Maliki
    Abboud Qanbar
    Babaker Zebari
    Ali Ghaidan
    Mahdi Al-Gharrawi
    Sabah Al-Fatlawi
    Qasem Soleimani

    Masoud Barzani
    Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa
    Sirwan Barzani

    Bahoz Erdal
    		 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
    Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi †[20]
    Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi[21]
    Strength

    250,000 federal soldiers[22][23]
    10,000 federal police
    30,000 local police
    2,000 Iranian Quds Force[24]
    1,000 U.S. Troops[25]

    190,000 Kurdish peshmerga[22]    		 Islamic State: 7,000[22]
    Casualties and losses
    Iraq:
    2,452 killed (1,566 executed)[26]
    90,000 deserted[27]
    Iran:
    4 killed[28][29][30][31]
    1,900 captured[32]    		 Islamic State:
    3,106 killed[33]
    1,235–1,265 civilians killed (by 25 June)[34][35]
    1,000,000+ displaced[36]
    95 Turkish civilians taken prisoner[37]

    The Islamic State and its allies captured several cities and surrounding territory, beginning with an attack on Samarra on 4 June, followed by the seizure of Mosul on 10 June, and Tikrit on 11 June. As Iraqi government forces fled south on 13 June, Kurdistan Regional Government forces took control of the oil hub of Kirkuk, part of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq.[38][39]

    The Islamic State called the battles of Mosul and Saladin Governorate "the Battle of the Lion of God al-Bilawi" (Arabic: غزوة أسد الله البيلاوي), in honor of Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi.

    A former commander of the Iraqi ground forces, Ali Ghaidan, accused Former Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki of being the one who issued the order to withdraw from the city of Mosul.[40]

    By late June, the Iraqi government had lost control of its borders with both Jordan and Syria.[41] Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki called for a national state of emergency on 10 June following the attack on Mosul, which had been seized overnight. However, despite the security crisis, Iraq's parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many Sunni Arab and Kurdish legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister's powers.[42]

    Background Edit

    See also: Anbar campaign (2013–14)

    Since December 2013, clashes involving tribal militias, Iraqi security forces, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had been occurring throughout western Iraq. In early January 2014, ISIL militia successfully took control of Fallujah and Ramadi,[43] bringing much of Al Anbar Governorate under their control. Afterwards, the Iraqi Army began conducting an offensive against the Anbar region, the stronghold of ISIL, with the stated goal of bringing the region under government control. Prior to conducting this counter offensive, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave a controversial speech in which he charactized the military campaign as a continuation of the ancient sectarian war between "the followers of Hussein and the followers of Yazid", a reference to a 7th-century defining battle for Shi'ites, thereby alienating the Sunnis of Anbar who had prior collaborated with the Iraqi government.[44]

    The advances ISIL made in neighboring Syria—a source of their weapons[45]—substantially strengthened their position.[46] In early June, insurgents began to advance up over to central and northern part of Iraqi land following the Iraqi Army's capture in[clarification needed] the Anbar industrial zone. At that point, they were still in control of most of Fallujah and Garmah, as well as parts of Haditha, Jurf Al Sakhar, Anah, Abu Ghraib and several smaller settlements in Al Anbar Governorate.[47]

    On 29 June 2014, ISIL announced a change of name to Islamic State, and declared a 'Caliphate' that includes Syria and Iraq. They then declared Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph and leader of all Muslims.[48]

    Possible causes Edit

    Some trace the beginnings of the offensive to the Syrian civil war which gave ISIL and other Sunni jihadi groups a cause and a battlefield when it looked like their campaign in Iraq was in decline[49] while critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 believe the root of these events should trace back to unsuccessful nation-building as well as sectarian and ethnic division in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's removal from power.[50] U.S. Foreign policy on Iraq under the Barack Obama administration had shifted, and there had been a withrawal of U.S. troops and military presence. Anne-Marie Slaughter wrote that had Obama forcibly intervened in the Syrian civil war, it "could have stopped the carnage spreading today in Syria and in Iraq,"[51] while Fareed Zakaria, editor of Time and former Middle Eastern policy advisor for the Bush administration,[clarification needed] alleged that counterproductive western intervention in Iraq and Syria served to accelerate sectarian infighting in both countries and empowered radicals on all sides.[52] The Financial Times described the conflicts spanning Iraq and Syria as religious wars akin to Europe's Thirty Years' War.[53]

    According to the Iraq's government critics, the pro-Shia policies of al-Maliki have been considered one of the main reasons of alienation Sunni Arabs and Kurds, which has played a significant role in the deterioration of security and the reemergence of Sunni extremists.[54][55] Conversely, al-Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia of backing the militants of ISIL, who want to carve out a Sunni caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.[56] This view was supported by writers in Foreign Policy magazine and The Daily Beast who asserted that the Saudi government, viewing the political ascendancy of Iraq's Shia populace as a threat, elected to provide the Sunni opposition with arms.[57][58] Michael Weiss traces the origins of ISIL to Ansar al-Islam's infiltration of Iraqi Kurdistan through Iran prior to the invasion of Iraq, and further cites a variety of evidence to claim that Syrian officials intentionally abetted the rise of ISIL to damage the reputation of moderate Syrian rebels.[59]

    The Iraqi army which took responsibility for holding northern Iraq, collapsed when militants including ISIL and its allies, with less than 1,000 militants, attacked and seized Mosul and Tikrit easily. The Iraqi army ceded control of Kirkuk to the Kurdish Peshmerga. There are different reasons offered for this event. According to The Guardian, one scenario is that the three Iraqi generals responsible for Mosul, Tikrit, and Kirkuk didn't want to fight for a state that wasn't working.[60] According to The Daily Telegraph, the other view is that the generals in the military headquarters of these cities had shared the same Ba'athist ideology and were the first to flee.[61] Another scenario is that the Iraqi troops quickly realized they were no match for battle-hardened and ideologically motivated jihadis heading their way. A third theory is that the Kurds had long ago lost faith in prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to serve either their interests or those of Iraq.[60]

    Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst Michael Knights noted that mutual opposition to the Shia-led government allowed for an alliance between the hitherto ideologically opposed ISIL and secular Ba'ath influenced insurgents such as the Naqshbandi order. Coordination between both groups granted ISIL the assistance of underground networks of former military, insurgents, Sunni officials and tribal groups sympathetic to the Ba'ath era government, thereby allowing a relatively small number of militants to execute a "coup" in Sunni regions where the banned Ba'ath party still retains a degree of support. The presence of Naqshbandi, MCIR and other secular Sunni insurgent groups has therefore led to tribes and some Awakening Councils opposed to ISIL supporting the insurrection.[62][63] Additionally, Knights reported that in the years preceding the insurrection, the Naqshbandi led by Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri aggressively forged ties to elements of Sunni civil society opposed to the Maliki government, encouraged the establishment of protest camps at sites including Hawija and attempted to co-opt Sunni militia. The arrival of ISIS militants from Syria ultimately serving as the final catalyst behind a broader revolt.[64]

    Offensive Edit

    Assault on Samarra Edit

    Main article: Battle of Samarra (2014)

    On 4 and 5 June 2014, ISIL militants attacked and captured parts of the city of Samarra. The ISIL operatives blew up a police station south of Samara overnight, killing several policemen, before they advanced on the city in pick-up trucks, raiding checkpoints along the way.[65] They entered the city from the east and west and quickly captured the municipality building, university and the two largest mosques. The insurgents had reached to within 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the Al-Askari Mosque, which was defended by three security belts. Militants targeted command centres near the shrine. Soon, government reinforcements were sent from Baghdad and the military managed to regain control of the city, pushing militant forces out of Samarra. 12 policemen and several civilians were killed in the fighting,[66] while an army official claimed 80 militants also died.[citation needed]

    Fall of Mosul and push into Kirkuk Edit

    Main article: Fall of Mosul

    On 6 June, ISIL attacked Mosul from the northwest and quickly entered the western part of the city. The ISIL forces numbered approximately 1,500, while there were at least 15 times more Iraqi forces.[67] The assault started at 02:30 in the morning when ISIL convoys of pickup trucks advancing from the west shot their way through the two-man checkpoints into the city. By 03:30, street fighting was raging in Mosul.[68] In southern Mosul, five suicide bombers attacked an arms depot killing 11 soldiers. Two suicide bombers also killed six people in the village of Muaffakiya, near Mosul. Heavy fighting continued in the city the next day. Over the two days, 61 militants, 41 government troops and seven civilians were killed.[69][70][71]

    As the militants advanced they seized military vehicles and weapons and reportedly hanged soldiers and lit them ablaze, crucified them, and torched them on the hoods of Humvees. On the western edge of Tamoz 17 neighbourhood, police from the Fourth Battalion made a stand against the insurgents as government forces were order to form a defensive line to cordon off the besieged western Mosul neighbourhoods from the Tigris River.[68]

    While fighting raged in Mosul, on 8 June, a double bomb attack, including a suicide bomber, against the Kurdish PUK party office in the town of Jalawla left 18 people dead, most of them members of the Kurdish security forces.[72] At the same time, ISIL advanced to the east of Mosul, capturing the Hawija, Al Zab, Riyadh, and Abbasi areas west of the city of Kirkuk, and Rashad and Yankaja to its south after government forces retreated.[73]

    By this time, insurgents surged into Mosul, sleeper cells hiding in the city had been activated and neighbourhoods rallied to them. The insurgents bombed a police station in the al-Uraybi neighbourhood and charged into the area around the Mosul Hotel, on the western bank of the Tigris, where a battle post was set up for 30 police SWAT members.[68]

    The next day, ISIL forces executed 15 security forces members captured near Kirkuk.[74] Four days later, on 13 June, in the eastern part of the province, Kurdish military forces (Peshmerga) advanced and took the city of Kirkuk, after government forces abandoned their posts in the face of the ISIL offensive, expanding the Kurdish zone of control in Northern Iraq. Kurdish forces then awaited further orders before moving towards the areas controlled by ISIL.[75] A Peshmerga spokesman said, "The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of Peshmerga, no Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now."[38] Ten tanks and dozens of Humvee vehicles that had been abandoned by the Army were seized by Kurdish forces.[76]

    By the afternoon of 9 June on Mosul's front, some 40 members of the Fourth Police Battalion were among the last local police fighting to hold back the jihadists in western Mosul. The rest had either defected or deserted. At 04:30 in the afternoon, a military water tanker, rigged with explosives, raced towards the Mosul Hotel where the policemen were stationed. The subsequent explosion wounded the battalion's commander, Colonel Dhiyab Ahmed al-Assi al-Obeidi, whose leg was ripped open by the blast. Other police officers then transported him by boat across the river. This attack broke the defensive line in the west of the city.[68]

    That night, generals Aboud Qanbar and Ali Ghaidan decided to withdraw across the river, leaving Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi, the operational commander of Nineveh Governorate, at his command post without any orders. Ghaidan and Qanbar's retreating convoy created the impression that Iraq's security forces were deserting[68] and so Iraqi Army soldiers started to flee Mosul.[46] The 2nd Division had deserted the city within a few hours and both Ghaidan and Qanbar arrived in Kurdistan the next day.[68]

    On the morning of 10 June, Gharawi and 26 of his men, who were still at the operation command centre in the western part of the city, decided to fight their way across a bridge to eastern Mosul. On the east bank, their five vehicles were set ablaze and after coming under heavy fire, during which three of the soldiers were killed, it was every man for himself, as Gharawi said. In the east, Gharawi and three of his men commandeered an armoured vehicle with flat tires and headed north to safety.[68] The militants were in control of much of the city by midday on 10 June.[46] The militants seized numerous facilities, including Mosul International Airport, which had served as a hub for the U.S. military in the region. It was thought all aircraft located there had been captured, including helicopters and jet fighters. The militants also claimed to had released at least 2,400 prisoners, after seizing police stations and prisons across the city.[77][78] However, after the takeover of Badush prison near Mosul, ISIL separated and removed the Sunni inmates, while the remaining 670 prisoners were executed.[79] At the end of 10 June, ISIL was considered to be in control of Mosul.[80]

    On 11 June, ISIL members seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul and kidnapped 48 Turkish citizens including the consul general, three children and several members of the Turkish Special Forces. Reports suggested the abductees were taken to a nearby militant base and were unharmed. An unnamed Turkish official confirmed the government was in contact with the insurgents, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held an emergency meeting with members of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay to discuss the situation. The daring assault came a day after 28 Turkish truck drivers were abducted by militants while delivering fuel to a power plant in Mosul.[81][82] Earlier that day, the governor of Ninawa Governate, Atheel al-Nujaifi, accused the military commanders that were in Mosul of abandoning the battlefield and fleeing from the city. The governor demanded that they be tried in a military court. He also stated that it was not just ISIL that captured Mosul but that other small militias had provided support in capturing the city.[83] On 20 September 2014 the hostages captured on 11 June 2014 from the Turkish consulate in Mosul were released.[84]

    ISIL seized large quantities of US-supplied military equipment. It also freed thousands of prisoners, many of whom are likely to join the insurgency.[85]

    There were conflicting reports about the east bank of Mosul, which has a significant population of Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmens, Shabaks and Armenians,[86] with some suggesting it was controlled by Kurdish Peshmergas[87] while according to others it was ISIL-controlled.[88]

    Sources within the Iraq government allege that in the months preceding the assault, Ba'ath loyalists led by al-Douri had been in contact with disaffected Sunni officers who either defected or withdrew upon the ISIL-Ba'ath attack.[89] While speaking to the charity Aid to the Church in Need, Chaldean Catholic Church Archbishop of Mosul Amel Nona stated "Mosul's last remaining Christians had left now a city which until 2003 was home to 35,000 faithful."[90]

    Conquest of Baiji and Tikrit Edit

    On 11 June, insurgents advanced into the oil refinery town of Baiji, seizing the main court house and police station and setting them on fire. The militants, who were travelling in a group of around 60 vehicles, also took control of the Baiji prison and freed all the inmates. Local residents told members of the media that ISIL sent a group of local tribal chiefs ahead of them to convince the 250 guards at the oil plant to withdraw, while soldiers and police had been warned to leave as well.[91] Later in the day, militants reportedly retreated from Baiji, either due to persuasion from local tribal leaders[92] or due to reinforcements from the Iraqi Army's Fourth Armored Division arriving in the city.[93] However, the next day it was confirmed ISIL was still in control of the town, except the refinery which was surrounded.[38]

    Continuing their offensive, on the evening of 11 June, insurgents took full control of the city of Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein and the second provincial capital to fall in two days. Local officials reported that checkpoints had been set up around the city, while at least 300 inmates had been freed from the city's prisons, many of them serving sentences under terrorism charges.[93][94][95] Two police stations were burned down and a military base was captured.[96] ISIL forces had also reached Samarra and were fighting government troops at the city's northwest entrance.[93]

    At this point, Iraqi government officials described the situation as a "strategic disaster" for the Iraqi government and army.[92]

    Advance towards Baghdad and into Diyala Edit

    On 12 June, ISIL continued their advance towards Baghdad, the capital and largest city of Iraq, moving into towns just an hour's drive from the city. It controlled parts of the small town of Udhaim, 90 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, after most of the army troops left their positions and withdrew towards the nearby town of Al Khalis in Diyala Governorate.[38] ISIL also captured ten towns in Saladin Governorate, but not Tuz Khurmatu, Dujail, Balad, Samarra[97] or Amirli.[98] Samarra had reportedly become surrounded by ISIL forces.[99]

    Meanwhile, an Iraqi Border Patrol battalion stationed along the Syrian border in the western Anbar Governorate abandoned its positions in the face of advancing ISIL forces to break out to the relative safety of the Kurdish-controlled town of Sinjar in Nineveh. However, the convoy of 60 trucks and hundreds of border police were thrown into disarray and panic when a small force of ISIL vehicles attacked them en route. By the time Kurdish forces arrived, the police force had been completely routed, with an unknown number of killed and captured, while others fled into the desert, leaving all their vehicles behind. Only two policemen managed to arrive at Sinjar on foot.[100]

    In the early hours of 13 June, ISIL seized two towns in Diyala Governorate, after security forces abandoned their posts in Sadiyah and Jalawla. Several villages around the Hamrin Mountains were also captured.[101][102] At the same time, Kurdish forces entered Jalawla to secure offices of Kurdish parties in the town.[103]

    Government counter-attack Edit

     
    An Iraqi Air Force AC-208 firing a Hellfire missile during a training exercise in 2010.

    On 13 June 2014, Iraqi forces supported by elements of the Quds Force and Iranian Revolutionary Guards had gathered in the town of Samarra and claimed to have regained control of parts of Saladin Governorate,[104] namely the town of Dhuluiyah.[17] Journalists from Al-Monitor embedded in Mosul and Tikrit reported that repeated airstrikes by the government made ISIL militants depart from conspicuous positions within the cities. In their place, militants associated with the Naqshbandi Army and other anti-government groups led by former Ba'ath officers assumed the visible role of patrolling and administration.[clarification needed] Militants were reported to have appointed former Ba'ath generals Azhar al-Obeidi and Ahmed Abdul Rashid as the governors of Mosul and Tikrit. Sunni militants remained in control of Tikrit and its strategically significant COB Speicher military base and air field.[105] Insurgents in Tikrit were reported to be mining the roads leading into the city and positioning artillery to resist an anticipated siege.[106]

    According to The Guardian newspaper, the call to arms by the highest Shia authority in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, on 13 June mobilized in less than one day around a division of militiamen who, unlike the military, would not run from a fight with the insurgents.[107]

    On 14 June, Al-Maliki went to Samarra and declared "Samarra will be the starting point, the gathering station of our troops to cleanse every inch that was desecrated by footsteps of those traitors." There were conflicting reports about the situation of al-Dhuluiya, outside of Samarra. Government officials and state TV claimed that Iraqi security forces had taken control of the town, but security officials in Samarra and witnesses there told CNN the town was still under ISIL control.[108]

    The same day, the Iraqi military attacked ISIL forces in al-Mutasim, 22 kilometres (14 mi) south-east of Samarra, driving militants out into the surrounding desert.[17][109] Meanwhile, the bodies of 128 Iraqi soldiers and policemen killed in clashes with ISIL were received by medical staff in Mosul.[110]

    Also, it was reported that the Iraqi Army had killed seven Kurdish security forces in an airstrike in Diyala. Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the Peshmerga, said talks with Iraqi authorities were under way to ascertain what had happened.[111] The next day, the military recaptured Ishaqi where the burned bodies of 12 policemen were found.[17]

    On 28 June, Iraqi forces launched an attack against the city of Tikrit.[112]

    Renewed ISIL advance Edit

     
    Peshmerga T-55 tank outside Kirkuk on 19 June 2014.

    Late on 15 June, after repeated assaults, an insurgent assault, primarily led by the Naqshbandi Army and former Ba'athists, captured Tal Afar and its nearby airbase[113] The defenders, composed largely of Shia Turkmen and soldiers retreating from Mosul, escaped to Kurdish-controlled territory.[100][114] During the fighting for Tal Afar, 18 militants died, and ten people were killed in the insurgent shelling of the town.[115] The local security garrison suffered heavy casualties, but the number was unknown.[116] It was also claimed that Major General Abu Al-Waleed was captured at Tal Afar, but he allegedly later denied this on state TV.[117] During that day, rebels made claims of executing 1,000–1,800 captured soldiers, while the military claimed the Air Force had killed 279 militants in the previous 24 hours.[118][119] Analysis of execution videos by military experts managed to confirm the killing of at least 170 soldiers.[116]

    On 15 June, ISIL also advanced further into Diyala Governorate gaining control of two villages in ʿAdhaim, northeast of Baghdad.[120] The next day, 28–29 Iraqi Shiite volunteer militiamen were killed in an ambush of their convoy south of Samarra by ISIL. Meanwhile, the military claimed to have killed 56 insurgents in areas of western and southern Baghdad,[117] while fighting in Diyala Governorate left 29 militants and eight soldiers dead. A number of soldiers were also captured.[121] The first Iranian soldier was also killed.[122] In addition, Tal Afar fell on 16 June[123] to ISIL forces led by Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi.[21]

    West of Baghdad, ISIL captured Saqlawiyah where army helicopters were hovering over the town to provide cover for retreating troops. During the fighting a helicopter was shot down.[124] In the evening, police executed 44 Sunni prisoners at a police station in Baqubah before retreating due to an advance by ISIL forces which captured several neighborhoods in the city.[125] Conflicting information has been presented regarding the number killed and the identity of those responsible, as the Washington Post reported that the prisoners were either killed during a battle with ISIL or "preemptively" by security forces. The situation regarding the killing of a Sunni imam in Baghdad is also unclear.[126]

    On 17 June, according to BBC the Army had retaken the captured districts of Baqubah.[127] Elsewhere, security forces withdrew from the Al-Qa'im border crossing as rebels from the Free Syrian Army and al-Nusra Front crossed the border and took hold of it.[128] Also, east of Samarra, the bodies of 18 executed security force members were discovered.[129]

    On 18 June, ISIL attacked Iraq's largest oil refinery in Baiji with mortars and machine guns.[130] An official from inside the refinery stated the militants had captured 75 percent of the facility, while a military spokesman claimed the attack had been repelled with 40 insurgents being killed.[131] Meanwhile, rebels overran three villages in Salaheddin Governorate following fighting that left some 20 civilians dead.[132] Also, India said that 40 of its nationals, who were working for a Turkish construction company in Mosul, had been abducted by militants.[133] At the same time, Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, the presiding judge during the trial of Saddam Hussein, was reportedly captured and executed by insurgents,[134] though that was later denied by family members and the Kurdistan Regional Government.[135]

    On 19 June, government forces claimed to have regained full control of the Baiji oil refinery, after heavy fighting with ISIL fighters that left 100 militants dead.[136] An Iraqi witness who drove past the Baiji refinery told the Associated Press that ISIL had hung their banners from the watch towers and created checkpoints surrounding the facility, despite government claims of control.[137] By the evening, the two sides held different parts of the refinery.[138] The same day, ISIL captured the Al Muthanna Chemical Weapons Facility near Lake Tharthar, 45 miles northwest of Baghdad, in an area which was firmly come under rebel control by this point.[139]

    On 20 June, the oil refinery was still surrounded by ISIL forces and had once again come under attack. By the evening, US officials had told ABC News that the 270 Iraqi troops trapped in the refinery were outnumbered and outgunned. And, with ISIL in control of the roads to and from Baiji, there was little chance of their resources being replenished. The militants planned to wait until the troops ran out of food and ammunition.[140] On the same day, ISIL claimed to have captured most of the Tal Afar airport. Kurdish forces, who were accompanied by a BBC news crew, became surrounded by ISIL on three sides in Jalula[141] and later it was confirmed the control of the town was divided between the Kurds and ISIL.[142]

    On 21 June, militants captured the Baiji oil refinery after overnight clashes with government forces.[143] On the same day, Iraqi Shia militias rallied all over Iraq to show their strength. The largest rally was in Baghdad in which thousands of members of Shia militia Promised Day Brigades participated.[144] Also, ISIL clashed with allied Sunni militants, leaving 17 dead in Hawija.[145]

    On 23 June, insurgents captured the Tal Afar airport and secured the town itself.[146] Iraqi security sources confirmed for the first time the Baiji oil refinery had been seized by militants, after being attacked for several days.[147] 400 soldiers of the 37th Brigade, including its officers, deserted from the refinery following an agreement reached with tribal leaders per which the troops had free passage to leave for 24 hours. 50–75 police commandos, who refused to desert, attempted to prevent the Brigade's desertion at gunpoint but were outnumbered by the soldiers and backed down. This left the insurgents in control of virtually the entire facility, except one compound where the refinery's operating systems are located due to the SWAT members barricading themselves in the building. A standoff ensued as the insurgents didn't want to risk a direct assault for fear of damaging the facilities systems. Instead, ISIL decided to slowly starve out the commandos if they refused to surrender, since no reinforcements could be flown in to the SWAT unit due to the heavy insurgent anti-aircraft fire around the refinery. The siege of the building continued as of mid-July.[148][149]

    By this point, sources reported that a combination of desertions, casualties and loss of equipment crippled the regular Iraqi military, forcing the government to increasingly rely on volunteers drawn from Shia militias.[150][151] Iraqi officials also conceded they had essentially given up on the north of the country to the insurgent forces.[152]

    On 24 June, the Syrian Arab Republic launched its first airstrikes in Iraqi territory after previously targeting Syrian-Iraqi border crossings controlled by ISIL. Syria launched new strikes the next day when at least 50 people were killed and 132 others wounded, including civilians, after missiles launched by Syrian fighters hit a municipal building, a market, and a bank in Al Rutba. It was unclear whether the Syrian fighters actually entered Iraqi territory when they made the airstrikes.[3]

    On 25 June, anonymous American officials reported that Iran set up a special control center at Al-Rasheed Air Base in Baghdad and was flying a "small fleet" of Ababil drones over Iraq, and an Iranian signals intelligence unit had also been deployed at the airfield to intercept electronic communications between ISIL fighters and commanders. 10 divisions of Iranian and Quds Force troops were massed on the Iran–Iraq border and about two dozen Iranian aircraft had been stationed in western Iran.[153] Meanwhile, insurgents overran the Ajeel oil site, east of Tikrit, after the nearby town of al-Alam was seized by the militants and insurgents surrounded on three sides the massive Balad air base, also known as Joint Base Balad and "Camp Anaconda" under U.S. occupation, and struck it with mortars.[154][155]

    Aftermath Edit

    Army Tikrit counter-offensive Edit

    Main article: First Battle of Tikrit

    On 26 June, government forces launched an airborne assault on Tikrit[156] and an all-out ground offensive two days later in an attempt to recapture the city.[157] However, by 30 June the assault had stalled[158] and government troops pulled back from Tikrit to the south, after meeting stiff resistance, in an attempt to regroup.[159]

    Also during this time, on the morning of 26 June, militants captured the town of Mansouriyat al-Jabal, which is the home to four natural gas fields,[160] although government forces managed to recapture the town the next day. They also reportedly recaptured al-Alam.[161]

    On 4 July, the ISIL published a video claiming its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivered a sermon for half an hour during Friday prayers at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri Mosul, Iraq. "Iraqi agencies are still investigating the video and comparing it with its intelligence," Iraq's military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim Atta, said on 7 July. On the other hand, the United States "has no reason to doubt" the authenticity of a video that purports to show ISIL leader.[162][163]

    On 15 July, the military launched a new assault on Tikrit from Awja. However, by the next day, government troops had been repelled and once again retreated. Several security force's vehicles were seen abandoned, with at least one of them burnt out.[164]

    On 17 July, insurgents launched an assault on Camp Speicher, near Tikrit,[165] in an attempt to capture the air base. However, by 21 July, the attack had reportedly been repelled.[166]

    August ISIL offensive Edit

    Main article: Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014)

    In early August 2014, ISIL launched a new offensive against Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq and within days captured the town of Sinjar, displacing its Yazidi population. ISIL had also advanced to within 40 kilometers from the Kurdish capital of Erbil. This prompted the United States to start launching air-strikes on advancing ISIL forces.

    Consequences Edit

    Proclamation of a Caliphate Edit

    On 29 June 2014, ISIL or ISIS announced its name change to the Islamic State and announced the formation of a 'Caliphate', which would include Iraq and Syria, and in theory covers the global Muslim population. They called upon Muslims all over the world to pledge allegiance to their Caliph, Ibrahim Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[167] ISIL claimed to have a plan to take over the city of Arar in Saudi Arabia, which is very close to the Iraqi border.[168]

    In July NBC news reported that disagreements had erupted between ISIL and two large Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq, the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order and 1920 Revolution Brigade, leading to skirmishes between the allies on July. NBC quoted an unnamed senior U.S. counterterrorism official claiming that "the tribal groups do not necessarily follow strict Islamic law the way ISIS does, which naturally leads to conflict".[169]

    Kurdish referendum for independence Edit

     
      Borders of the Kurdistan Region (disputed)
    •   Kurdistan Region
    •   Unrecognised incorporated territory
    •   Other claimed and controlled territory
    •   Other claimed territory
    •   Rest of Iraq

    Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Region expressed on 3 July his will to organize a referendum to push forward the area's independence from Iraq.[170] The Kurdish forces indeed control an important area in northern Iraq, outside of ISIL's control, and now away from the Iraqi government's influence. Israel's prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu declared in June 2014 that his government would support an independent Kurdistan.[171]

    Massacre of minorities Edit

    Main articles: Sinjar massacre, Genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State, and Persecution of Christians by the Islamic State
     
    Defend International provided humanitarian aid to Yazidi refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan in December 2014.

    Reports tell that thousands of Assyrians, Yazidis, Kurds and other ethnic minorities were massacred by ISIL fighters.[172] After the capture of Qaraqosh, the Iraqi city with largest Assyrian population, on 7 August, thousands fled their homes from the city and Mosul as they were given an ultimatum by the insurgents.[173] The Assyrians, Yazidis, Kurds and other minorities were massacred. They were buried alive, burnt alive, shot down, the women of these groups were raped and killed or married to ISIL fighters.

    Many Kurds were frightened that ISIL would make another Anfal Genocide.

    "Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of militants", Joseph Thomas, the Arch Bishop of the Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told AFP. Qaraqosh has an estimated Christian population of about 50,000.

    Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said the ISIL advance into Iraq created a 'humanitarian disaster' and that more than 100,000 Christians were forced to leave their homes. "The churches are occupied and crosses taken down", and more than 1,500 documents had been destroyed, he said.

    Around Sinjar, the withdrawal of Peshmerga from the area without effectively communicating it to the Yazidis,[174] prompted the locals to flee to Kurdistan Region after brief clashes between the locals and ISIS.[175] NGOs have also accused the Peshmerga of confiscating weapons from the Yazidis.[176]

    Reactions Edit

    Domestic Edit

    Despite the security crisis, Iraq's Parliament was not convened and did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many Sunni and Kurdish legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister's powers.[42]

    Most Iraqis view the conflict as a partial Sunni uprising, rather than as a simple lunge for power by ISIL.[177]

    Shia Edit

    On 13 June 2014, the highest religious authority for the Shia in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, asked people to fight the Islamic State. According to one of his representatives, Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai, he asked for "people who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defense of their country... (to) volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal".[178][179]

    In late June, powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr vowed to "shake the ground" under the feet of the militants, days after fighters loyal to him paraded with weapons in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, vowing to fight the militant offensive.[180]

    Sunni Edit

    Fugitive Iraq Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni who described the fall of Mosul as a "Revolution of the oppressed, downtrodden and marginalized people in Mosul", denied ISIL played a leading role amongst the government's opponents and alleged the militancy against the central government was led by Sunni tribes and disenfranchised Sunnis.[181][182]

    Another prominent Sunni, Ali Hatem al-Suleiman (emir of the large Dulaim tribe), claimed "It is the tribal rebels who are in control of the situation in Mosul. It is not reasonable to say that a group like ISIL, which has a small number of men and vehicles, could be in control of a large city like Mosul. Therefore, it is clear that this is a tribal revolution, but the government is trying to force us all to wear the robe of the terrorists and ISIS."[183]

    A member of insurgent held Mosul's governing council, a former colonel in the Ba'ath era military alleged that the opposition to the government was composed of multiple Sunni Arab factions, most of which are led by officers from the disbanded military. The former officer claimed that the various opposition factions were working to minimize ISIL influence and appoint officials capable of restoring services in insurgent held areas.[184]

    Kurdish Edit

    Kurdish parliamentarian Shoresh Haji stated "I hope that the Kurdish leadership will not miss this golden opportunity to bring Kurdish lands in the disputed territories back under Kurdish control".[38][185][186]

    International reactions Edit

    International bodies
    •   Arab League – On 12 June, Arab League Secretary-General, Nabil al-Arabi condemned what he described as the "criminal activities" committed by ISIL group in Mosul. He emphasized on the necessity of "national consensus in Iraq at this critical time, which threatens Iraq's security and political stability."[187]
    •   United Nations – On 10 June, the United Nations' Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, asked all political leaders in Iraq to show national unity against the ISIL offensive, expressed grave concern about the "serious deterioration", and condemned the recent attacks that have left scores dead and wounded in Iraq's northern and eastern provinces. He recalled that all UN Member States have an obligation to implement and enforce the targeted financial sanctions, arms embargo and travel ban imposed on ISIS under the sanctions regime pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1267 (1999) and Security Council Resolution 1989 (2011).[188] It also evacuated its 60 staff members from Baghdad to neighboring Jordan.[189] After ISIL released graphic photographs of its fighters shooting scores of young men, the United Nations said on 16 June, cold blooded "executions" said to have been carried out by militants in northern Iraq almost certainly amount to war crimes.[190]
    U.N. member states
    •   India – On 16 June, Indian External Affairs Ministry condemned the takeover of Iraqi cities like Mosul and Tikrit by ISIL and reiterated its support to the government and the people of Iraq in their fight against international terrorism. It also set up a 24-hour helpline at Indian embassy in Baghdad for assistance of Indian nationals stranded in these cities. It has been reported that 46 Indian nurses were abducted from the Iraqi town of Mosul[191] who were later freed and flown back to India.[192]
    •   Iran – On 12 June, the Iranian president, Hasan Rouhani, stated: "For our part, as the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ... we will combat violence, extremism and terrorism in the region and the world." On 11 June, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, had condemned the "murder of Iraqi citizens" as he offered Iraq's government support against terrorism. However, Iranian officials have not explained how Iran will help Iraq's government.[193] Iran dispatched Revolutionary Guard forces to help Iraq's government recapture Tikrit. Iran sent three battalions of the special operations Quds Force[194] and has sent a total of 2000 men between 12 and 14 June.[195] According to Washington Post, any support from Iran will be subtler, confined to military planning and strategy rather than manpower.[196]
    •   Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed "full support" to the Iraqi government.[197] Eight days later, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that "Russia will not stand idle toward attempts by terrorist groups to spread terrorism in regional states" and urged Europe and the United States to take action against ISIL.[198] On 29 June, Russia delivered Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft to the Iraqi Air Force, days after a request by the Iraqi government. Unconfirmed reports suggest that six Sukhoi Su-30 multirole aircraft are to be delivered as well.[7] Photos have appears on Iraqi social media depicting Russian-made rocket artillery TOS-1 arriving in Baghdad.[199]
    •   Syria – On 11 June, Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned recent acts of militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on the territory of Iraq. It also expressed support and solidarity to the Iraqi government in its fight against the armed terrorist groups in Iraq.[200] On 15 June, the Syrian Air Force was carrying out airstrikes on ISIL bases in coordination with Iraq. Airstrikes were carried out against ISIL bases in Raqqa and Al-Hasakah inside Syria, and headquarters in Shaddadi, a town close to the border with Iraq.[201][202][203]
    •   Saudi Arabia – The Saudi Arabia government said that the tensions there were due to sectarian policies which threatened its stability and sovereignty, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. It warned against foreign intervention and urged Iraqis to form a national unity government.[204]
    •   Turkey – ISIL captured Ankara's consul general in Mosul and detained 49 Turkish citizens including the Consul-General, Öztürk Yılmaz. It also took hostage 31 Turkish truck drivers. Some reports suggest that the hostages have been moved to the residence of the ISIL-sponsored Mosul governor, in possible preparation for their release. Turkey has called an emergency NATO meeting.[85]
    The hostages were freed in mid September 2014. Turkey denied paying ransom [205] but prisoner swaps were hinted at.[206] It was later revealed that Turkish authorities had initially paid a certain amount of money to ISIL officials and the hostages were later swapped for 180 militants who had been apprehended or undergoing medical treatment in Turkey.[207]
    •   United Kingdom – On 17 June, Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would be reopening the British Embassy in Iran in an effort to rebuild the nations' diplomatic relationship to help combat the recent event in Iraq.[208] On 18 June, PM Cameron said that he believed ISIL was planning a terror attack on the UK.[209]
    •   United States – On 12 June, U.S. President Barack Obama said he was exploring all options to save Iraq's security forces from collapse, and U.S. companies evacuated hundreds from a major air base. "Our national security team is looking at all the options... I don't rule out anything," he declared. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham warned an ISIL takeover in both Iraq and Syria would create a "hell on earth" and called for the urgent deployment of U.S. air power to "change the battlefield equation".[210]
    On 13 June, Obama said the United States "will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq," but that he would be reviewing a range of other options in coming days. He called on Iraq's neighbors to help out, too, and told the only guarantee of success involved political reforms by al-Maliki that promoted cooperation with Sunnis.[211]
    On 15 June, US government announced that it was drawing down staff at its embassy in Baghdad. Referring to the "ongoing instability and violence in certain areas," a State Department statement said the embassy will also increase the number of security personnel deployed at the heavily guarded mission. A separate Pentagon statement said "a small number" of Defense Department personnel were being sent to augment security at the facility.[212]
    On 16 June, President Obama notified Congress that a total of 275 U.S. soldiers and Marines could be deployed to Iraq to provide security for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other U.S. personnel in Iraq. About 160 troops were already in the country and 100 will be stationed as reserve forces in a nearby country to be deployed if needed.[213] The special forces team would operate under the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and would be barred from engaging in ground combat.[214]
    The Guardian reported on 18 June that Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and John McCain thought Maliki's government should step down. White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "we will aggressively attempt to impress upon that leader the absolute necessity of rejecting sectarian governance". The Secretary of State, John Kerry, stated that Washington was not focused Maliki, but on the Iraqi people. A spokesman for the Nouri al-Malik said he will not stand down.[215]
    As of 19 June, reports emerged suggesting that if the United States carries out airstrikes over Iraq, as requested by the Iraqi government,[216] that Obama may act without congressional approval.[217] Also on 19 June, Barack Obama announced he is sending up to 300 military advisers to Iraq, and could down the road authorize targeted military action, if necessary. According to CNN, one aircraft carrier and five warships are already positioned in the Persian Gulf, U.S. drones are flying intelligence missions over Iraq and a list of ISIL targets has been compiled.[218]
    On 23 June, John Kerry met with Nouri al-Malik, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari, and Sunni and Shia leaders in Baghdad. The purpose was to affirm the US commitment to Iraq during the crisis and to discuss the formation of a new government. These meetings occur as ISIL proceeded to capture more territory north and west of the capital.[219] Kerry also rejected al-Maliki's request for prompt American airstrikes on the militants' positions in Iraq and Syria, saying that care must be taken before such attacks are launched to avoid giving the impression that the Americans are targeting Sunnis.[220]
    On 8 August 2014, President Obama authorized airstrikes and humanitarian aid to civilians trapped in the mountains, who didn't have access to food or water. He said the move for airstrikes was to stop the advancement of the IS convoys into Erbil. He strongly asserted that the minorities, including the Christians and the Yazidis must be protected from the 'genocide'.[221]

    Others Edit

    On 14 June, Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, described the event as a "national revolution"[222] He said the insurgency "could not have been led by one Islamist party," a reference to ISIL, instead describing it as a "all-out Sunni revolution" (or "Overwhelming revolution for Sunnah" ) and warned against sectarian war. Calling for the formation of a "national unity government", he said that "this is not a revolution against the Shias".[223][224]

    According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, "The Kurds, seeing the Iraqi central regime's weakness, will take all the necessary measures to protect their autonomy and expand their influence to neighboring Syrian Kurdistan. The Kurds understand very well that they could be the next target after the Assyrians and accordingly will preempt any attempt by the jihadists to set foot in their areas. The fall of Mosul could become the beginning of Kurdish quest for independence."[225]

    Tirana Hassan, of the Human Rights Watch, reports that Khorasani Brigade, a Shia militia, has ethnically cleansed the village of Yengija, 50 miles south of Kirkuk. The Sunni population was driven from the village and their homes were razed.[226]

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    External links Edit

    • Iraq updates – Institute for the Study of War

    36°20′14″N 43°08′09″E / 36.3372°N 43.1358°E / 36.3372; 43.1358

    October 02, 2023
    northern, iraq, offensive, june, 2014, confused, with, northern, iraq, offensive, august, 2014, began, june, 2014, when, islamic, state, began, major, offensive, from, territory, syria, into, iraq, against, iraqi, kurdish, forces, following, earlier, clashes, . Not to be confused with Northern Iraq offensive August 2014 The Northern Iraq offensive June 2014 began on 4 June 2014 when the Islamic State began a major offensive from its territory in Syria into Iraq against Iraqi and Kurdish forces following earlier clashes that had begun in December 2013 involving guerillas Northern Iraq offensive June 2014 Part of the War in IraqMap of the offensiveDate4 25 June 2014 2 weeks and 6 days LocationNineveh Kirkuk Saladin and Diyala GovernoratesResultIslamic State victory 2nd 3rd 4th Iraqi Army divisions destroyed 13 Islamic State Caliphate proclaimed with Abu Bakr al Baghdadi named as the Caliph Genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State persecution of Christians and Shia Muslims by the Islamic State Iraqi forces and allies launch a full scale counter offensive to recapture lost territory in early 2015 14 TerritorialchangesIraqi Government loses significant territories in northern Iraq to the Islamic State including the region from Mosul to Tikrit and Tal Afar along with parts of Kirkuk and Diyala Governorates 15 Islamic State comes within 25 kilometers 15 miles from the capital city of Baghdad 16 A government counter offensive leads to the recapture of territory north and west of Baghdad 17 18 Kurdish forces take control of Kirkuk parts of northern Nineveh and north eastern Diyala 19 BelligerentsRepublic of Iraq Security forces Iraqi Volunteer Forces Shi ite private militias 1 2 Mahdi ArmySyria limited involvement Syrian Air Force 3 Iran 4 Supported by United States 5 6 Russia 7 Kurdistan Region Peshmerga 8 Kurdistan Workers Party PKK Assyrian Syriac forces Syriac Military Council 9 Qaraqosh Protection Committee 10 Nineveh Plain Protection Units 11 Islamic State 12 Commanders and leadersNouri al Maliki Abboud Qanbar Babaker Zebari Ali Ghaidan Mahdi Al Gharrawi Sabah Al Fatlawi Qasem Soleimani Masoud Barzani Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa Sirwan Barzani Bahoz ErdalAbu Bakr al Baghdadi Abu Abdulrahman al Bilawi 20 Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al Mawli al Salbi 21 Strength250 000 federal soldiers 22 23 10 000 federal police30 000 local police2 000 Iranian Quds Force 24 1 000 U S Troops 25 190 000 Kurdish peshmerga 22 Islamic State 7 000 22 Casualties and lossesIraq 2 452 killed 1 566 executed 26 90 000 deserted 27 Iran 4 killed 28 29 30 31 1 900 captured 32 Islamic State 3 106 killed 33 1 235 1 265 civilians killed by 25 June 34 35 1 000 000 displaced 36 95 Turkish civilians taken prisoner 37 The Islamic State and its allies captured several cities and surrounding territory beginning with an attack on Samarra on 4 June followed by the seizure of Mosul on 10 June and Tikrit on 11 June As Iraqi government forces fled south on 13 June Kurdistan Regional Government forces took control of the oil hub of Kirkuk part of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq 38 39 The Islamic State called the battles of Mosul and Saladin Governorate the Battle of the Lion of God al Bilawi Arabic غزوة أسد الله البيلاوي in honor of Abu Abdulrahman al Bilawi A former commander of the Iraqi ground forces Ali Ghaidan accused Former Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri al Maliki of being the one who issued the order to withdraw from the city of Mosul 40 By late June the Iraqi government had lost control of its borders with both Jordan and Syria 41 Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al Maliki called for a national state of emergency on 10 June following the attack on Mosul which had been seized overnight However despite the security crisis Iraq s parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency many Sunni Arab and Kurdish legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister s powers 42 Contents 1 Background 2 Possible causes 3 Offensive 3 1 Assault on Samarra 3 2 Fall of Mosul and push into Kirkuk 3 3 Conquest of Baiji and Tikrit 3 4 Advance towards Baghdad and into Diyala 3 5 Government counter attack 3 6 Renewed ISIL advance 4 Aftermath 4 1 Army Tikrit counter offensive 4 2 August ISIL offensive 5 Consequences 5 1 Proclamation of a Caliphate 5 2 Kurdish referendum for independence 5 3 Massacre of minorities 6 Reactions 6 1 Domestic 6 1 1 Shia 6 1 2 Sunni 6 1 3 Kurdish 6 2 International reactions 6 3 Others 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksBackground EditSee also Anbar campaign 2013 14 Since December 2013 clashes involving tribal militias Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL had been occurring throughout western Iraq In early January 2014 ISIL militia successfully took control of Fallujah and Ramadi 43 bringing much of Al Anbar Governorate under their control Afterwards the Iraqi Army began conducting an offensive against the Anbar region the stronghold of ISIL with the stated goal of bringing the region under government control Prior to conducting this counter offensive Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki gave a controversial speech in which he charactized the military campaign as a continuation of the ancient sectarian war between the followers of Hussein and the followers of Yazid a reference to a 7th century defining battle for Shi ites thereby alienating the Sunnis of Anbar who had prior collaborated with the Iraqi government 44 The advances ISIL made in neighboring Syria a source of their weapons 45 substantially strengthened their position 46 In early June insurgents began to advance up over to central and northern part of Iraqi land following the Iraqi Army s capture in clarification needed the Anbar industrial zone At that point they were still in control of most of Fallujah and Garmah as well as parts of Haditha Jurf Al Sakhar Anah Abu Ghraib and several smaller settlements in Al Anbar Governorate 47 On 29 June 2014 ISIL announced a change of name to Islamic State and declared a Caliphate that includes Syria and Iraq They then declared Abu Bakr al Baghdadi as the Caliph and leader of all Muslims 48 Possible causes EditSome trace the beginnings of the offensive to the Syrian civil war which gave ISIL and other Sunni jihadi groups a cause and a battlefield when it looked like their campaign in Iraq was in decline 49 while critics of the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003 believe the root of these events should trace back to unsuccessful nation building as well as sectarian and ethnic division in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein s removal from power 50 U S Foreign policy on Iraq under the Barack Obama administration had shifted and there had been a withrawal of U S troops and military presence Anne Marie Slaughter wrote that had Obama forcibly intervened in the Syrian civil war it could have stopped the carnage spreading today in Syria and in Iraq 51 while Fareed Zakaria editor of Time and former Middle Eastern policy advisor for the Bush administration clarification needed alleged that counterproductive western intervention in Iraq and Syria served to accelerate sectarian infighting in both countries and empowered radicals on all sides 52 The Financial Times described the conflicts spanning Iraq and Syria as religious wars akin to Europe s Thirty Years War 53 According to the Iraq s government critics the pro Shia policies of al Maliki have been considered one of the main reasons of alienation Sunni Arabs and Kurds which has played a significant role in the deterioration of security and the reemergence of Sunni extremists 54 55 Conversely al Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia of backing the militants of ISIL who want to carve out a Sunni caliphate in the heart of the Middle East 56 This view was supported by writers in Foreign Policy magazine and The Daily Beast who asserted that the Saudi government viewing the political ascendancy of Iraq s Shia populace as a threat elected to provide the Sunni opposition with arms 57 58 Michael Weiss traces the origins of ISIL to Ansar al Islam s infiltration of Iraqi Kurdistan through Iran prior to the invasion of Iraq and further cites a variety of evidence to claim that Syrian officials intentionally abetted the rise of ISIL to damage the reputation of moderate Syrian rebels 59 The Iraqi army which took responsibility for holding northern Iraq collapsed when militants including ISIL and its allies with less than 1 000 militants attacked and seized Mosul and Tikrit easily The Iraqi army ceded control of Kirkuk to the Kurdish Peshmerga There are different reasons offered for this event According to The Guardian one scenario is that the three Iraqi generals responsible for Mosul Tikrit and Kirkuk didn t want to fight for a state that wasn t working 60 According to The Daily Telegraph the other view is that the generals in the military headquarters of these cities had shared the same Ba athist ideology and were the first to flee 61 Another scenario is that the Iraqi troops quickly realized they were no match for battle hardened and ideologically motivated jihadis heading their way A third theory is that the Kurds had long ago lost faith in prime minister Nouri al Maliki s ability to serve either their interests or those of Iraq 60 Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst Michael Knights noted that mutual opposition to the Shia led government allowed for an alliance between the hitherto ideologically opposed ISIL and secular Ba ath influenced insurgents such as the Naqshbandi order Coordination between both groups granted ISIL the assistance of underground networks of former military insurgents Sunni officials and tribal groups sympathetic to the Ba ath era government thereby allowing a relatively small number of militants to execute a coup in Sunni regions where the banned Ba ath party still retains a degree of support The presence of Naqshbandi MCIR and other secular Sunni insurgent groups has therefore led to tribes and some Awakening Councils opposed to ISIL supporting the insurrection 62 63 Additionally Knights reported that in the years preceding the insurrection the Naqshbandi led by Izzat Ibrahim al Douri aggressively forged ties to elements of Sunni civil society opposed to the Maliki government encouraged the establishment of protest camps at sites including Hawija and attempted to co opt Sunni militia The arrival of ISIS militants from Syria ultimately serving as the final catalyst behind a broader revolt 64 Offensive EditAssault on Samarra Edit Main article Battle of Samarra 2014 On 4 and 5 June 2014 ISIL militants attacked and captured parts of the city of Samarra The ISIL operatives blew up a police station south of Samara overnight killing several policemen before they advanced on the city in pick up trucks raiding checkpoints along the way 65 They entered the city from the east and west and quickly captured the municipality building university and the two largest mosques The insurgents had reached to within 2 kilometres 1 2 mi from the Al Askari Mosque which was defended by three security belts Militants targeted command centres near the shrine Soon government reinforcements were sent from Baghdad and the military managed to regain control of the city pushing militant forces out of Samarra 12 policemen and several civilians were killed in the fighting 66 while an army official claimed 80 militants also died citation needed Fall of Mosul and push into Kirkuk Edit Main article Fall of Mosul On 6 June ISIL attacked Mosul from the northwest and quickly entered the western part of the city The ISIL forces numbered approximately 1 500 while there were at least 15 times more Iraqi forces 67 The assault started at 02 30 in the morning when ISIL convoys of pickup trucks advancing from the west shot their way through the two man checkpoints into the city By 03 30 street fighting was raging in Mosul 68 In southern Mosul five suicide bombers attacked an arms depot killing 11 soldiers Two suicide bombers also killed six people in the village of Muaffakiya near Mosul Heavy fighting continued in the city the next day Over the two days 61 militants 41 government troops and seven civilians were killed 69 70 71 As the militants advanced they seized military vehicles and weapons and reportedly hanged soldiers and lit them ablaze crucified them and torched them on the hoods of Humvees On the western edge of Tamoz 17 neighbourhood police from the Fourth Battalion made a stand against the insurgents as government forces were order to form a defensive line to cordon off the besieged western Mosul neighbourhoods from the Tigris River 68 While fighting raged in Mosul on 8 June a double bomb attack including a suicide bomber against the Kurdish PUK party office in the town of Jalawla left 18 people dead most of them members of the Kurdish security forces 72 At the same time ISIL advanced to the east of Mosul capturing the Hawija Al Zab Riyadh and Abbasi areas west of the city of Kirkuk and Rashad and Yankaja to its south after government forces retreated 73 By this time insurgents surged into Mosul sleeper cells hiding in the city had been activated and neighbourhoods rallied to them The insurgents bombed a police station in the al Uraybi neighbourhood and charged into the area around the Mosul Hotel on the western bank of the Tigris where a battle post was set up for 30 police SWAT members 68 The next day ISIL forces executed 15 security forces members captured near Kirkuk 74 Four days later on 13 June in the eastern part of the province Kurdish military forces Peshmerga advanced and took the city of Kirkuk after government forces abandoned their posts in the face of the ISIL offensive expanding the Kurdish zone of control in Northern Iraq Kurdish forces then awaited further orders before moving towards the areas controlled by ISIL 75 A Peshmerga spokesman said The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of Peshmerga no Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now 38 Ten tanks and dozens of Humvee vehicles that had been abandoned by the Army were seized by Kurdish forces 76 By the afternoon of 9 June on Mosul s front some 40 members of the Fourth Police Battalion were among the last local police fighting to hold back the jihadists in western Mosul The rest had either defected or deserted At 04 30 in the afternoon a military water tanker rigged with explosives raced towards the Mosul Hotel where the policemen were stationed The subsequent explosion wounded the battalion s commander Colonel Dhiyab Ahmed al Assi al Obeidi whose leg was ripped open by the blast Other police officers then transported him by boat across the river This attack broke the defensive line in the west of the city 68 That night generals Aboud Qanbar and Ali Ghaidan decided to withdraw across the river leaving Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi the operational commander of Nineveh Governorate at his command post without any orders Ghaidan and Qanbar s retreating convoy created the impression that Iraq s security forces were deserting 68 and so Iraqi Army soldiers started to flee Mosul 46 The 2nd Division had deserted the city within a few hours and both Ghaidan and Qanbar arrived in Kurdistan the next day 68 On the morning of 10 June Gharawi and 26 of his men who were still at the operation command centre in the western part of the city decided to fight their way across a bridge to eastern Mosul On the east bank their five vehicles were set ablaze and after coming under heavy fire during which three of the soldiers were killed it was every man for himself as Gharawi said In the east Gharawi and three of his men commandeered an armoured vehicle with flat tires and headed north to safety 68 The militants were in control of much of the city by midday on 10 June 46 The militants seized numerous facilities including Mosul International Airport which had served as a hub for the U S military in the region It was thought all aircraft located there had been captured including helicopters and jet fighters The militants also claimed to had released at least 2 400 prisoners after seizing police stations and prisons across the city 77 78 However after the takeover of Badush prison near Mosul ISIL separated and removed the Sunni inmates while the remaining 670 prisoners were executed 79 At the end of 10 June ISIL was considered to be in control of Mosul 80 On 11 June ISIL members seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul and kidnapped 48 Turkish citizens including the consul general three children and several members of the Turkish Special Forces Reports suggested the abductees were taken to a nearby militant base and were unharmed An unnamed Turkish official confirmed the government was in contact with the insurgents while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held an emergency meeting with members of the National Intelligence Organization MIT and Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay to discuss the situation The daring assault came a day after 28 Turkish truck drivers were abducted by militants while delivering fuel to a power plant in Mosul 81 82 Earlier that day the governor of Ninawa Governate Atheel al Nujaifi accused the military commanders that were in Mosul of abandoning the battlefield and fleeing from the city The governor demanded that they be tried in a military court He also stated that it was not just ISIL that captured Mosul but that other small militias had provided support in capturing the city 83 On 20 September 2014 the hostages captured on 11 June 2014 from the Turkish consulate in Mosul were released 84 ISIL seized large quantities of US supplied military equipment It also freed thousands of prisoners many of whom are likely to join the insurgency 85 There were conflicting reports about the east bank of Mosul which has a significant population of Assyrians Kurds Turkmens Shabaks and Armenians 86 with some suggesting it was controlled by Kurdish Peshmergas 87 while according to others it was ISIL controlled 88 Sources within the Iraq government allege that in the months preceding the assault Ba ath loyalists led by al Douri had been in contact with disaffected Sunni officers who either defected or withdrew upon the ISIL Ba ath attack 89 While speaking to the charity Aid to the Church in Need Chaldean Catholic Church Archbishop of Mosul Amel Nona stated Mosul s last remaining Christians had left now a city which until 2003 was home to 35 000 faithful 90 Conquest of Baiji and Tikrit Edit On 11 June insurgents advanced into the oil refinery town of Baiji seizing the main court house and police station and setting them on fire The militants who were travelling in a group of around 60 vehicles also took control of the Baiji prison and freed all the inmates Local residents told members of the media that ISIL sent a group of local tribal chiefs ahead of them to convince the 250 guards at the oil plant to withdraw while soldiers and police had been warned to leave as well 91 Later in the day militants reportedly retreated from Baiji either due to persuasion from local tribal leaders 92 or due to reinforcements from the Iraqi Army s Fourth Armored Division arriving in the city 93 However the next day it was confirmed ISIL was still in control of the town except the refinery which was surrounded 38 Continuing their offensive on the evening of 11 June insurgents took full control of the city of Tikrit the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein and the second provincial capital to fall in two days Local officials reported that checkpoints had been set up around the city while at least 300 inmates had been freed from the city s prisons many of them serving sentences under terrorism charges 93 94 95 Two police stations were burned down and a military base was captured 96 ISIL forces had also reached Samarra and were fighting government troops at the city s northwest entrance 93 At this point Iraqi government officials described the situation as a strategic disaster for the Iraqi government and army 92 Advance towards Baghdad and into Diyala Edit On 12 June ISIL continued their advance towards Baghdad the capital and largest city of Iraq moving into towns just an hour s drive from the city It controlled parts of the small town of Udhaim 90 km 60 miles north of Baghdad after most of the army troops left their positions and withdrew towards the nearby town of Al Khalis in Diyala Governorate 38 ISIL also captured ten towns in Saladin Governorate but not Tuz Khurmatu Dujail Balad Samarra 97 or Amirli 98 Samarra had reportedly become surrounded by ISIL forces 99 Meanwhile an Iraqi Border Patrol battalion stationed along the Syrian border in the western Anbar Governorate abandoned its positions in the face of advancing ISIL forces to break out to the relative safety of the Kurdish controlled town of Sinjar in Nineveh However the convoy of 60 trucks and hundreds of border police were thrown into disarray and panic when a small force of ISIL vehicles attacked them en route By the time Kurdish forces arrived the police force had been completely routed with an unknown number of killed and captured while others fled into the desert leaving all their vehicles behind Only two policemen managed to arrive at Sinjar on foot 100 In the early hours of 13 June ISIL seized two towns in Diyala Governorate after security forces abandoned their posts in Sadiyah and Jalawla Several villages around the Hamrin Mountains were also captured 101 102 At the same time Kurdish forces entered Jalawla to secure offices of Kurdish parties in the town 103 Government counter attack Edit nbsp An Iraqi Air Force AC 208 firing a Hellfire missile during a training exercise in 2010 On 13 June 2014 Iraqi forces supported by elements of the Quds Force and Iranian Revolutionary Guards had gathered in the town of Samarra and claimed to have regained control of parts of Saladin Governorate 104 namely the town of Dhuluiyah 17 Journalists from Al Monitor embedded in Mosul and Tikrit reported that repeated airstrikes by the government made ISIL militants depart from conspicuous positions within the cities In their place militants associated with the Naqshbandi Army and other anti government groups led by former Ba ath officers assumed the visible role of patrolling and administration clarification needed Militants were reported to have appointed former Ba ath generals Azhar al Obeidi and Ahmed Abdul Rashid as the governors of Mosul and Tikrit Sunni militants remained in control of Tikrit and its strategically significant COB Speicher military base and air field 105 Insurgents in Tikrit were reported to be mining the roads leading into the city and positioning artillery to resist an anticipated siege 106 According to The Guardian newspaper the call to arms by the highest Shia authority in Iraq Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on 13 June mobilized in less than one day around a division of militiamen who unlike the military would not run from a fight with the insurgents 107 On 14 June Al Maliki went to Samarra and declared Samarra will be the starting point the gathering station of our troops to cleanse every inch that was desecrated by footsteps of those traitors There were conflicting reports about the situation of al Dhuluiya outside of Samarra Government officials and state TV claimed that Iraqi security forces had taken control of the town but security officials in Samarra and witnesses there told CNN the town was still under ISIL control 108 The same day the Iraqi military attacked ISIL forces in al Mutasim 22 kilometres 14 mi south east of Samarra driving militants out into the surrounding desert 17 109 Meanwhile the bodies of 128 Iraqi soldiers and policemen killed in clashes with ISIL were received by medical staff in Mosul 110 Also it was reported that the Iraqi Army had killed seven Kurdish security forces in an airstrike in Diyala Jabbar Yawar the secretary general of the Peshmerga said talks with Iraqi authorities were under way to ascertain what had happened 111 The next day the military recaptured Ishaqi where the burned bodies of 12 policemen were found 17 On 28 June Iraqi forces launched an attack against the city of Tikrit 112 Renewed ISIL advance Edit nbsp Peshmerga T 55 tank outside Kirkuk on 19 June 2014 Late on 15 June after repeated assaults an insurgent assault primarily led by the Naqshbandi Army and former Ba athists captured Tal Afar and its nearby airbase 113 The defenders composed largely of Shia Turkmen and soldiers retreating from Mosul escaped to Kurdish controlled territory 100 114 During the fighting for Tal Afar 18 militants died and ten people were killed in the insurgent shelling of the town 115 The local security garrison suffered heavy casualties but the number was unknown 116 It was also claimed that Major General Abu Al Waleed was captured at Tal Afar but he allegedly later denied this on state TV 117 During that day rebels made claims of executing 1 000 1 800 captured soldiers while the military claimed the Air Force had killed 279 militants in the previous 24 hours 118 119 Analysis of execution videos by military experts managed to confirm the killing of at least 170 soldiers 116 On 15 June ISIL also advanced further into Diyala Governorate gaining control of two villages in ʿAdhaim northeast of Baghdad 120 The next day 28 29 Iraqi Shiite volunteer militiamen were killed in an ambush of their convoy south of Samarra by ISIL Meanwhile the military claimed to have killed 56 insurgents in areas of western and southern Baghdad 117 while fighting in Diyala Governorate left 29 militants and eight soldiers dead A number of soldiers were also captured 121 The first Iranian soldier was also killed 122 In addition Tal Afar fell on 16 June 123 to ISIL forces led by Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al Mawli al Salbi 21 West of Baghdad ISIL captured Saqlawiyah where army helicopters were hovering over the town to provide cover for retreating troops During the fighting a helicopter was shot down 124 In the evening police executed 44 Sunni prisoners at a police station in Baqubah before retreating due to an advance by ISIL forces which captured several neighborhoods in the city 125 Conflicting information has been presented regarding the number killed and the identity of those responsible as the Washington Post reported that the prisoners were either killed during a battle with ISIL or preemptively by security forces The situation regarding the killing of a Sunni imam in Baghdad is also unclear 126 On 17 June according to BBC the Army had retaken the captured districts of Baqubah 127 Elsewhere security forces withdrew from the Al Qa im border crossing as rebels from the Free Syrian Army and al Nusra Front crossed the border and took hold of it 128 Also east of Samarra the bodies of 18 executed security force members were discovered 129 On 18 June ISIL attacked Iraq s largest oil refinery in Baiji with mortars and machine guns 130 An official from inside the refinery stated the militants had captured 75 percent of the facility while a military spokesman claimed the attack had been repelled with 40 insurgents being killed 131 Meanwhile rebels overran three villages in Salaheddin Governorate following fighting that left some 20 civilians dead 132 Also India said that 40 of its nationals who were working for a Turkish construction company in Mosul had been abducted by militants 133 At the same time Rauf Rashid Abd al Rahman the presiding judge during the trial of Saddam Hussein was reportedly captured and executed by insurgents 134 though that was later denied by family members and the Kurdistan Regional Government 135 On 19 June government forces claimed to have regained full control of the Baiji oil refinery after heavy fighting with ISIL fighters that left 100 militants dead 136 An Iraqi witness who drove past the Baiji refinery told the Associated Press that ISIL had hung their banners from the watch towers and created checkpoints surrounding the facility despite government claims of control 137 By the evening the two sides held different parts of the refinery 138 The same day ISIL captured the Al Muthanna Chemical Weapons Facility near Lake Tharthar 45 miles northwest of Baghdad in an area which was firmly come under rebel control by this point 139 On 20 June the oil refinery was still surrounded by ISIL forces and had once again come under attack By the evening US officials had told ABC News that the 270 Iraqi troops trapped in the refinery were outnumbered and outgunned And with ISIL in control of the roads to and from Baiji there was little chance of their resources being replenished The militants planned to wait until the troops ran out of food and ammunition 140 On the same day ISIL claimed to have captured most of the Tal Afar airport Kurdish forces who were accompanied by a BBC news crew became surrounded by ISIL on three sides in Jalula 141 and later it was confirmed the control of the town was divided between the Kurds and ISIL 142 On 21 June militants captured the Baiji oil refinery after overnight clashes with government forces 143 On the same day Iraqi Shia militias rallied all over Iraq to show their strength The largest rally was in Baghdad in which thousands of members of Shia militia Promised Day Brigades participated 144 Also ISIL clashed with allied Sunni militants leaving 17 dead in Hawija 145 On 23 June insurgents captured the Tal Afar airport and secured the town itself 146 Iraqi security sources confirmed for the first time the Baiji oil refinery had been seized by militants after being attacked for several days 147 400 soldiers of the 37th Brigade including its officers deserted from the refinery following an agreement reached with tribal leaders per which the troops had free passage to leave for 24 hours 50 75 police commandos who refused to desert attempted to prevent the Brigade s desertion at gunpoint but were outnumbered by the soldiers and backed down This left the insurgents in control of virtually the entire facility except one compound where the refinery s operating systems are located due to the SWAT members barricading themselves in the building A standoff ensued as the insurgents didn t want to risk a direct assault for fear of damaging the facilities systems Instead ISIL decided to slowly starve out the commandos if they refused to surrender since no reinforcements could be flown in to the SWAT unit due to the heavy insurgent anti aircraft fire around the refinery The siege of the building continued as of mid July 148 149 By this point sources reported that a combination of desertions casualties and loss of equipment crippled the regular Iraqi military forcing the government to increasingly rely on volunteers drawn from Shia militias 150 151 Iraqi officials also conceded they had essentially given up on the north of the country to the insurgent forces 152 On 24 June the Syrian Arab Republic launched its first airstrikes in Iraqi territory after previously targeting Syrian Iraqi border crossings controlled by ISIL Syria launched new strikes the next day when at least 50 people were killed and 132 others wounded including civilians after missiles launched by Syrian fighters hit a municipal building a market and a bank in Al Rutba It was unclear whether the Syrian fighters actually entered Iraqi territory when they made the airstrikes 3 On 25 June anonymous American officials reported that Iran set up a special control center at Al Rasheed Air Base in Baghdad and was flying a small fleet of Ababil drones over Iraq and an Iranian signals intelligence unit had also been deployed at the airfield to intercept electronic communications between ISIL fighters and commanders 10 divisions of Iranian and Quds Force troops were massed on the Iran Iraq border and about two dozen Iranian aircraft had been stationed in western Iran 153 Meanwhile insurgents overran the Ajeel oil site east of Tikrit after the nearby town of al Alam was seized by the militants and insurgents surrounded on three sides the massive Balad air base also known as Joint Base Balad and Camp Anaconda under U S occupation and struck it with mortars 154 155 Aftermath EditArmy Tikrit counter offensive Edit Main article First Battle of Tikrit On 26 June government forces launched an airborne assault on Tikrit 156 and an all out ground offensive two days later in an attempt to recapture the city 157 However by 30 June the assault had stalled 158 and government troops pulled back from Tikrit to the south after meeting stiff resistance in an attempt to regroup 159 Also during this time on the morning of 26 June militants captured the town of Mansouriyat al Jabal which is the home to four natural gas fields 160 although government forces managed to recapture the town the next day They also reportedly recaptured al Alam 161 On 4 July the ISIL published a video claiming its leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi delivered a sermon for half an hour during Friday prayers at the Great Mosque of al Nuri Mosul Iraq Iraqi agencies are still investigating the video and comparing it with its intelligence Iraq s military spokesman Lt Gen Qassim Atta said on 7 July On the other hand the United States has no reason to doubt the authenticity of a video that purports to show ISIL leader 162 163 On 15 July the military launched a new assault on Tikrit from Awja However by the next day government troops had been repelled and once again retreated Several security force s vehicles were seen abandoned with at least one of them burnt out 164 On 17 July insurgents launched an assault on Camp Speicher near Tikrit 165 in an attempt to capture the air base However by 21 July the attack had reportedly been repelled 166 August ISIL offensive Edit Main article Northern Iraq offensive August 2014 In early August 2014 ISIL launched a new offensive against Kurdish held territory in northern Iraq and within days captured the town of Sinjar displacing its Yazidi population ISIL had also advanced to within 40 kilometers from the Kurdish capital of Erbil This prompted the United States to start launching air strikes on advancing ISIL forces Consequences EditProclamation of a Caliphate Edit On 29 June 2014 ISIL or ISIS announced its name change to the Islamic State and announced the formation of a Caliphate which would include Iraq and Syria and in theory covers the global Muslim population They called upon Muslims all over the world to pledge allegiance to their Caliph Ibrahim Abu Bakr al Baghdadi 167 ISIL claimed to have a plan to take over the city of Arar in Saudi Arabia which is very close to the Iraqi border 168 In July NBC news reported that disagreements had erupted between ISIL and two large Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order and 1920 Revolution Brigade leading to skirmishes between the allies on July NBC quoted an unnamed senior U S counterterrorism official claiming that the tribal groups do not necessarily follow strict Islamic law the way ISIS does which naturally leads to conflict 169 Kurdish referendum for independence Edit nbsp Borders of the Kurdistan Region disputed Kurdistan Region Unrecognised incorporated territory Other claimed and controlled territory Other claimed territory Rest of IraqMasoud Barzani the leader of the Kurdistan Region expressed on 3 July his will to organize a referendum to push forward the area s independence from Iraq 170 The Kurdish forces indeed control an important area in northern Iraq outside of ISIL s control and now away from the Iraqi government s influence Israel s prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu declared in June 2014 that his government would support an independent Kurdistan 171 Massacre of minorities Edit Main articles Sinjar massacre Genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State and Persecution of Christians by the Islamic State nbsp Defend International provided humanitarian aid to Yazidi refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan in December 2014 Reports tell that thousands of Assyrians Yazidis Kurds and other ethnic minorities were massacred by ISIL fighters 172 After the capture of Qaraqosh the Iraqi city with largest Assyrian population on 7 August thousands fled their homes from the city and Mosul as they were given an ultimatum by the insurgents 173 The Assyrians Yazidis Kurds and other minorities were massacred They were buried alive burnt alive shot down the women of these groups were raped and killed or married to ISIL fighters Many Kurds were frightened that ISIL would make another Anfal Genocide Qaraqosh Tal Kayf Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of militants Joseph Thomas the Arch Bishop of the Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah told AFP Qaraqosh has an estimated Christian population of about 50 000 Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said the ISIL advance into Iraq created a humanitarian disaster and that more than 100 000 Christians were forced to leave their homes The churches are occupied and crosses taken down and more than 1 500 documents had been destroyed he said Around Sinjar the withdrawal of Peshmerga from the area without effectively communicating it to the Yazidis 174 prompted the locals to flee to Kurdistan Region after brief clashes between the locals and ISIS 175 NGOs have also accused the Peshmerga of confiscating weapons from the Yazidis 176 Reactions EditDomestic Edit Despite the security crisis Iraq s Parliament was not convened and did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency many Sunni and Kurdish legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister s powers 42 Most Iraqis view the conflict as a partial Sunni uprising rather than as a simple lunge for power by ISIL 177 Shia Edit On 13 June 2014 the highest religious authority for the Shia in Iraq Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani asked people to fight the Islamic State According to one of his representatives Sheikh Abdulmehdi al Karbalai he asked for people who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defense of their country to volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal 178 179 In late June powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr vowed to shake the ground under the feet of the militants days after fighters loyal to him paraded with weapons in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad vowing to fight the militant offensive 180 Sunni Edit Fugitive Iraq Vice President Tariq al Hashimi a Sunni who described the fall of Mosul as a Revolution of the oppressed downtrodden and marginalized people in Mosul denied ISIL played a leading role amongst the government s opponents and alleged the militancy against the central government was led by Sunni tribes and disenfranchised Sunnis 181 182 Another prominent Sunni Ali Hatem al Suleiman emir of the large Dulaim tribe claimed It is the tribal rebels who are in control of the situation in Mosul It is not reasonable to say that a group like ISIL which has a small number of men and vehicles could be in control of a large city like Mosul Therefore it is clear that this is a tribal revolution but the government is trying to force us all to wear the robe of the terrorists and ISIS 183 A member of insurgent held Mosul s governing council a former colonel in the Ba ath era military alleged that the opposition to the government was composed of multiple Sunni Arab factions most of which are led by officers from the disbanded military The former officer claimed that the various opposition factions were working to minimize ISIL influence and appoint officials capable of restoring services in insurgent held areas 184 Kurdish Edit Kurdish parliamentarian Shoresh Haji stated I hope that the Kurdish leadership will not miss this golden opportunity to bring Kurdish lands in the disputed territories back under Kurdish control 38 185 186 International reactions Edit International bodies nbsp Arab League On 12 June Arab League Secretary General Nabil al Arabi condemned what he described as the criminal activities committed by ISIL group in Mosul He emphasized on the necessity of national consensus in Iraq at this critical time which threatens Iraq s security and political stability 187 nbsp United Nations On 10 June the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki moon asked all political leaders in Iraq to show national unity against the ISIL offensive expressed grave concern about the serious deterioration and condemned the recent attacks that have left scores dead and wounded in Iraq s northern and eastern provinces He recalled that all UN Member States have an obligation to implement and enforce the targeted financial sanctions arms embargo and travel ban imposed on ISIS under the sanctions regime pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1267 1999 and Security Council Resolution 1989 2011 188 It also evacuated its 60 staff members from Baghdad to neighboring Jordan 189 After ISIL released graphic photographs of its fighters shooting scores of young men the United Nations said on 16 June cold blooded executions said to have been carried out by militants in northern Iraq almost certainly amount to war crimes 190 U N member states nbsp India On 16 June Indian External Affairs Ministry condemned the takeover of Iraqi cities like Mosul and Tikrit by ISIL and reiterated its support to the government and the people of Iraq in their fight against international terrorism It also set up a 24 hour helpline at Indian embassy in Baghdad for assistance of Indian nationals stranded in these cities It has been reported that 46 Indian nurses were abducted from the Iraqi town of Mosul 191 who were later freed and flown back to India 192 nbsp Iran On 12 June the Iranian president Hasan Rouhani stated For our part as the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran we will combat violence extremism and terrorism in the region and the world On 11 June the Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif had condemned the murder of Iraqi citizens as he offered Iraq s government support against terrorism However Iranian officials have not explained how Iran will help Iraq s government 193 Iran dispatched Revolutionary Guard forces to help Iraq s government recapture Tikrit Iran sent three battalions of the special operations Quds Force 194 and has sent a total of 2000 men between 12 and 14 June 195 According to Washington Post any support from Iran will be subtler confined to military planning and strategy rather than manpower 196 nbsp Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed full support to the Iraqi government 197 Eight days later Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that Russia will not stand idle toward attempts by terrorist groups to spread terrorism in regional states and urged Europe and the United States to take action against ISIL 198 On 29 June Russia delivered Sukhoi Su 25 ground attack aircraft to the Iraqi Air Force days after a request by the Iraqi government Unconfirmed reports suggest that six Sukhoi Su 30 multirole aircraft are to be delivered as well 7 Photos have appears on Iraqi social media depicting Russian made rocket artillery TOS 1 arriving in Baghdad 199 nbsp Syria On 11 June Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned recent acts of militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on the territory of Iraq It also expressed support and solidarity to the Iraqi government in its fight against the armed terrorist groups in Iraq 200 On 15 June the Syrian Air Force was carrying out airstrikes on ISIL bases in coordination with Iraq Airstrikes were carried out against ISIL bases in Raqqa and Al Hasakah inside Syria and headquarters in Shaddadi a town close to the border with Iraq 201 202 203 nbsp Saudi Arabia The Saudi Arabia government said that the tensions there were due to sectarian policies which threatened its stability and sovereignty according to the official Saudi Press Agency It warned against foreign intervention and urged Iraqis to form a national unity government 204 nbsp Turkey ISIL captured Ankara s consul general in Mosul and detained 49 Turkish citizens including the Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz It also took hostage 31 Turkish truck drivers Some reports suggest that the hostages have been moved to the residence of the ISIL sponsored Mosul governor in possible preparation for their release Turkey has called an emergency NATO meeting 85 The hostages were freed in mid September 2014 Turkey denied paying ransom 205 but prisoner swaps were hinted at 206 It was later revealed that Turkish authorities had initially paid a certain amount of money to ISIL officials and the hostages were later swapped for 180 militants who had been apprehended or undergoing medical treatment in Turkey 207 nbsp United Kingdom On 17 June Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would be reopening the British Embassy in Iran in an effort to rebuild the nations diplomatic relationship to help combat the recent event in Iraq 208 On 18 June PM Cameron said that he believed ISIL was planning a terror attack on the UK 209 nbsp United States On 12 June U S President Barack Obama said he was exploring all options to save Iraq s security forces from collapse and U S companies evacuated hundreds from a major air base Our national security team is looking at all the options I don t rule out anything he declared U S Senator Lindsey Graham warned an ISIL takeover in both Iraq and Syria would create a hell on earth and called for the urgent deployment of U S air power to change the battlefield equation 210 On 13 June Obama said the United States will not be sending U S troops back into combat in Iraq but that he would be reviewing a range of other options in coming days He called on Iraq s neighbors to help out too and told the only guarantee of success involved political reforms by al Maliki that promoted cooperation with Sunnis 211 On 15 June US government announced that it was drawing down staff at its embassy in Baghdad Referring to the ongoing instability and violence in certain areas a State Department statement said the embassy will also increase the number of security personnel deployed at the heavily guarded mission A separate Pentagon statement said a small number of Defense Department personnel were being sent to augment security at the facility 212 On 16 June President Obama notified Congress that a total of 275 U S soldiers and Marines could be deployed to Iraq to provide security for the U S Embassy in Baghdad and other U S personnel in Iraq About 160 troops were already in the country and 100 will be stationed as reserve forces in a nearby country to be deployed if needed 213 The special forces team would operate under the U S ambassador in Baghdad and would be barred from engaging in ground combat 214 The Guardian reported on 18 June that Dianne Feinstein the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and John McCain thought Maliki s government should step down White House spokesman Jay Carney said we will aggressively attempt to impress upon that leader the absolute necessity of rejecting sectarian governance The Secretary of State John Kerry stated that Washington was not focused Maliki but on the Iraqi people A spokesman for the Nouri al Malik said he will not stand down 215 As of 19 June reports emerged suggesting that if the United States carries out airstrikes over Iraq as requested by the Iraqi government 216 that Obama may act without congressional approval 217 Also on 19 June Barack Obama announced he is sending up to 300 military advisers to Iraq and could down the road authorize targeted military action if necessary According to CNN one aircraft carrier and five warships are already positioned in the Persian Gulf U S drones are flying intelligence missions over Iraq and a list of ISIL targets has been compiled 218 On 23 June John Kerry met with Nouri al Malik Iraq s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari and Sunni and Shia leaders in Baghdad The purpose was to affirm the US commitment to Iraq during the crisis and to discuss the formation of a new government These meetings occur as ISIL proceeded to capture more territory north and west of the capital 219 Kerry also rejected al Maliki s request for prompt American airstrikes on the militants positions in Iraq and Syria saying that care must be taken before such attacks are launched to avoid giving the impression that the Americans are targeting Sunnis 220 On 8 August 2014 President Obama authorized airstrikes and humanitarian aid to civilians trapped in the mountains who didn t have access to food or water He said the move for airstrikes was to stop the advancement of the IS convoys into Erbil He strongly asserted that the minorities including the Christians and the Yazidis must be protected from the genocide 221 Others Edit On 14 June Shaykh Yusuf al Qaradawi chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars described the event as a national revolution 222 He said the insurgency could not have been led by one Islamist party a reference to ISIL instead describing it as a all out Sunni revolution or Overwhelming revolution for Sunnah and warned against sectarian war Calling for the formation of a national unity government he said that this is not a revolution against the Shias 223 224 According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs The Kurds seeing the Iraqi central regime s weakness will take all the necessary measures to protect their autonomy and expand their influence to neighboring Syrian Kurdistan The Kurds understand very well that they could be the next target after the Assyrians and accordingly will preempt any attempt by the jihadists to set foot in their areas The fall of Mosul could become the beginning of Kurdish quest for independence 225 Tirana Hassan of the Human Rights Watch reports that Khorasani Brigade a Shia militia has ethnically cleansed the village of Yengija 50 miles south of Kirkuk The Sunni population was driven from the village and their homes were razed 226 See also Edit nbsp Iraq portal nbsp Asia portal nbsp Current events portal2012 14 Iraqi protests 2014 Eastern Syria offensive Spillover of the Syrian Civil WarReferences Edit Raheem Salman Ahmed Rasheed 14 June 2014 Iraq says slows Islamist rebel advance regains some territory Reuters Tony Blair We didn t cause Iraq crisis BBC News 15 June 2014 a b Nabhan Ali A 25 June 2014 Syrian Warplanes Strike Western Iraq Killing at Least 50 People The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 27 June 2014 Farnaz Fassihi 13 June 2014 Iran Deploys Forces to Fight Militants in Iraq The Wall Street Journal Reed Business Information Limited Iraq regains fighter power with F 16IQ delivery FlightGlobal Retrieved 30 July 2015 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a author has generic name help Jeremy Diamond CNN 19 June 2014 The good and the bad President Obama s military options in Iraq CNN a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a author has generic name help a b Iraq receives Russian fighter jets to fight rebels BBC News 29 June 2014 Retrieved 29 June 2014 Van Heuvelen Ben Amid turmoil Iraq s Kurdish region is laying foundation for independent state Washington Post Retrieved 13 June 2014 Kurdistan s military forces have taken over many of the northernmost positions abandoned by the national army significantly expanding the zone of Kurdish control In most places we aren t bothering them ISIL and they aren t bothering us or the civilians said Lt Gen Shaukur Zibari a pesh merga commander Presence of the MFS at the border of Iraq Syriac International News Agency 16 June 2014 Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 30 July 2014 Iraqi Christians under threat yet again Jeffrey Paul 29 April 2016 Militias of Iraqi Christians resist Islamic State amid sectarian strife Catholic Philly Retrieved 27 June 2020 Adam Withnall 30 June 2014 Iraq crisis Isis declares its territories a new Islamic state with restoration of caliphate in Middle East The Independent Archived from the original on 21 June 2022 Retrieved 1 May 2016 Prothero Mitch 24 July 2014 Analysis The Iraqi Army s collapse Jane s Defence Weekly In June 2014 the weakened Iraqi Security Forces finally cracked nineteen Iraqi Army brigades and six Federal Police brigades disintegrated a quarter of Iraq s security forces These losses comprised all of the Ninawa based 2nd and 3rd Iraqi Army divisions the entire Mosul based 3rd Federal Police division most of the Salah al Din based 4th Iraqi Army division all of the Kirkuk based 12th Iraqi Army division plus at least five southern Iraqi Army brigades that had previously been redeployed to the Syrian border Michael Knights Iraq to launch major ground offensive against IS group France 24 9 February 2015 Retrieved 10 November 2022 Urban Mark 23 June 2014 Iraq crisis Where next in the struggle for the country BBC News Lucas Mary Grace 12 October 2014 ISIS nearly made it to Baghdad airport top U S military leader says CNN Politics CNN Retrieved 10 November 2022 a b c d Iraq crisis US orders aircraft carrier to Gulf Iran offers help Channel NewsAsia 15 June 2014 Archived from the original on 17 June 2014 Retrieved 27 June 2014 Iraq Army recaptures Salahuddin cities and towns from ISIL Iraqinews com 16 June 2014 Retrieved 27 June 2014 Warum die Kurden die grossen Gewinner sind Suddeutsche zeitung 18 June 2014 Arango Tim Al Salhy Suadad Gladstone Rick 12 June 2014 Kurdish Fighters Take a Key Oil City as Militants Advance on Baghdad The New York Times Retrieved 1 November 2014 a b Al Tamimi Aymenn 11 September 2023 A Brief Biography of Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Qurashi The Islamic State s Second Caliph Middle East Forum Retrieved 23 September 2023 a b c Peter Beaumont 12 June 2014 How effective is Isis compared with the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga The Guardian Retrieved 27 June 2014 Iraqi forces are much stronger than ISIS but the Iraqi army is kind of a mess Vox 20 November 2018 Iran sends troops into Iraq to aid fight against Isis militants The Guardian 14 June 2014 In Increase U S to Send 130 Advisers to Aid Iraqis The New York Times 13 August 2014 Retrieved 1 May 2016 احصائية رسمية 1997 العدد الكلي لمفقودي مجزرتي سبايكر وبادوش Rudaw Retrieved 30 July 2015 Morris Loveday 28 October 2013 Iraq disintegrating as insurgents advance toward capital Kurds seize Kirkuk The Washington Post Retrieved 27 June 2014 Golnaz Esfandiari 16 June 2014 Iran IRGC s First Martyr Versus ISIL Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Amir Vahdat 25 June 2014 3 Iranian troops killed in attack near Iraq border Navy Times Iraq Civil War 2014 GlobalSecurity Iraq civilian death toll continues to climb Archived from the original on 11 October 2017 Retrieved 1 February 2015 Matthew Weaver Tom McCarthy Raya Jalabi 16 June 2014 Iraq crisis US could team up with Iran live updates The Guardian Over 4 000 Killed Across Iraq So Far in June Antiwar 25 June 2014 25 June 2014 Last updated at 1 January 1970 US forces arrive in Baghdad to advise Iraqi troops BBC Retrieved 27 June 2014 Iraq army routs Isis rebels in offensive on Tikrit BBC News 28 June 2014 Retrieved 30 July 2015 More than 1 million Iraqis have fled their homes as ISIS continues armed siege CNN 21 June 2014 ISIS captures hundreds of the military and a fast fall of Northern Iraq Alfajer 12 June 2014 a b c d e Raseed Ahmed Coles Isabella 13 June 2014 Obama warns of U S action as jihadists push on Baghdad Reuters Retrieved 13 June 2014 Iraqi Kurdish forces took advantage of the chaos to take control of the oil hub of Kirkuk as the troops of the Shi ite led government abandoned posts alarming Baghdad s allies both in the West and in neighboring Shi ite regional power Iran Kurds have long dreamed of taking Kirkuk and its huge oil reserves They regard the city just outside their autonomous region as their historic capital and peshmerga units were already present in an uneasy balance with government forces 1 dead link قائد عسكري سابق المالكي أمر بسحب القوات من الموصل www aljazeera net in Arabic Retrieved 8 February 2022 Sunni militants seize Iraq s western border crossings BBC 23 June 2014 a b Obama s Iraq dilemma Fighting ISIL puts US and Iran on the same 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Obama s full statement on the Iraq crisis Vox 8 August 2014 إن ما يحدث من انهيار شامل لقوى العسكر والأمن والشرطة في العراق لم يأت من فراغ ولا يمكن أن يفسر إلا على أنه جاء بسبب ثورة شعبية كما دعا العراقيين جميعا إلى الإسراع بتأليف اتحاد علماء المسلمين برئاسة القرضاوي ما يحدث في العراق ثورة شعبية Archived 15 June 2014 at archive today Sunni Clerics Criticize Iraq Shiite Call to Arms Naharnet com 14 June 2014 Retrieved 27 June 2014 القرضاوي ما يحدث في العراق ثورة عارمة للسنة ودعوة السيستاني ستقود إلى حرب طائفية Watan Archived from the original on 8 July 2014 Retrieved 27 June 2014 Col ret Dr Jacques Neriah 11 June 2014 Jihadists are on the march in Iraq Is the Fall of Mosul in Iraq to the Jihadists a Game Changer Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Retrieved 27 June 2014 Tirana Hassan 3 November 2014 The Gangs of Iraq Foreign Policy Archived from the original on 28 January 2015 Retrieved 9 November 2014 External links EditIraq updates Institute for the Study of War 36 20 14 N 43 08 09 E 36 3372 N 43 1358 E 36 3372 43 1358 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Northern Iraq offensive June 2014 amp oldid 1177228366, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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