Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) |
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| Part of the War in Iraq | |||||||||
.png) Map of the offensive |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
Supported by:
 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) |
 GMCIR |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Bahoz Erdal |
 Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (JRTN) |
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| Strength | |||||||||
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250,000 federal soldiers 190,000 Kurdish peshmerga |
Islamic State: 7,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Iraq: 2,452 killed (1,566 executed) 90,000 deserted 1,900 captured Iran: 4 killed |
Islamic State: 3,106 killed |
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95 Turkish civilians taken prisoner |
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The Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) began on 4 June 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, assisted by various insurgent groups in the region, 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.
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.
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.
By late June, the Iraqi government had lost control of its borders with both Jordan and Syria. 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.
Contents
Background
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, 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.
The advances ISIL made in neighboring Syria—a source of their weapons—substantially strengthened their position. In early June, insurgents began to advance up over to central and northern part of Iraqi land following the Iraqi Army's capture in 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.
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.
Possible causes
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 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. 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," while Fareed Zakaria, editor of Time and former Middle Eastern policy advisor for the Bush administration, alleged that counterproductive western intervention in Iraq and Syria served to accelerate sectarian infighting in both countries and empowered radicals on all sides. The Financial Times described the conflicts spanning Iraq and Syria as religious wars akin to Europe's Thirty Years' War.
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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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 insurgent groups led to tribes and some Awakening Councils opposed to ISIL supporting the insurrection. 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.
Consequences
Proclamation of a Caliphate
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. ISIL claimed to have a plan to take over the city of Arar in Saudi Arabia, which is very close to the Iraqi border.
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".
Kurdish referendum for independence
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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. 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.
Massacre of minorities
Reports tell that thousands of Assyrians, Yazidis, Kurds and other ethnic minorities were massacred by ISIL fighters. 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. The Assyrians, Yazidis, Kurds and other minorities were massacred.
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, prompted the locals to flee to Kurdistan Region after brief clashes between the locals and ISIS. NGOs have also accused the Peshmerga of confiscating weapons from the Yazidis.
See also
- 2012–14 Iraqi protests
- 2014 Eastern Syria offensive
- Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
