Anbar campaign (2013–2014)

This article is about the current fighting in Anbar province. For the fighting during the Iraq War, see Iraq War in Anbar Province.

Anbar clashes
Part of Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal)
Anbar Province
Date 30 December 2013 – present Location Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq Result Ongoing The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria declares its independence ISIS capture Fallujah, Al-Karmah and most part Ramadi
Belligerents
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL) Military Council of Anbar's Revolutionaries	Iraqi government Iraqi military Awakening Councils
Commanders and leaders
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi	Jalal Talabani Nouri al-Maliki Babaker Shawkat B. Zebari Ali Ghaidan Majid
Casualties and losses
197–263 killed	76 killed
75 civilians killed

Clashes in western Iraq began on 30 December 2013 when Iraqi security forces cleared up a Sunni protest camp in Ramadi. Tribal militias battled against the Iraqi Army. After the Iraqi Army withdrew from Anbar province to cool the situation on 31 December, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) occupied parts of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, in the predominantly Sunni Al Anbar governorate, declaring them to be an independent state: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Following the arrival of ISIL, most tribal militias allied themselves with government forces to counter them.

Timeline

On 2 January 2014 Al-Qaeda-linked militants were in control of more than half of the Iraqi city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi, a security official and witnesses said. "Half of Fallujah is in the hands of the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL), and the other half is in the control of armed tribesmen", an Iraqi interior ministry official told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A witness in the city west of Baghdad said that militants had set up checkpoints each manned by six to seven people in central and south Fallujah. "In Ramadi, it is similar – some areas are controlled by ISIL and other areas are controlled by tribesmen", the interior ministry official said, referring to the Anbar province capital, which lies farther to the west. An AFP journalist in Ramadi saw dozens of trucks carrying heavily-armed men driving in the city's east, playing songs praising ISIL. Clashes broke out in the Ramadi area on 30 December 2013 as security forces tore down what is considered a main Sunni Arab anti-government site, and continued for two more days. On January 1, 2014, militants in the city sporadically clashed with security forces and torched four police stations, but the clashes had subsided by the next day, the AFP journalist said. The violence also spread to Fallujah, where police abandoned most of their positions on January 1, 2014 and militants burned some police stations, officers said.

On December 30, 2013, the Iraqi Minister of the Interior Nuri al-Maliki said that Iraqi soldiers would depart restive cities in Anbar province, but reversed that decision the following day. Army forces as of January 2, 2014 remained outside Ramadi.

On 3 January, Al-Qaeda-linked militants advanced into gained ground and took over several police stations in Fallujah, police said to AFP. In early morning, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters advanced into areas in central Ramadi and deployed snipers on one street, a police captain said. A police colonel said the army had re-entered into areas of Fallujah, between Ramadi and Baghdad, but that around a quarter of it remained under ISIL control. Soldiers and armed tribesmen held the rest and had also surrounded the city, he said.

However, another senior officer, a police lieutenant colonel, said that while soldiers had deployed around the city, they had yet to enter Fallujah.

On 4 January, the Iraqi government lost control of the city of Fallujah, which is now held by al-Qaeda-linked militants, a senior security official in Anbar province said that day. Fallujah is under the control of ISIL. Earlier on Friday, more than 100 people were killed as Iraqi police and tribesmen battled militants who took over parts of two cities on Anbar province.

On the same day, the Iraqi Army shelled the city of Fallujah with mortar bombs to try to wrest back control from Sunni Muslim militants and tribesmen, killing at least eight people, tribal leaders and officials said. Medical sources in Fallujah said another 30 people were wounded in shelling by the army.