GUIDANCE NOTE
Last updated: June 2022

Iraq’s recent history has been characterised by a series of conflicts with political, ethnic and sectarian dimensions. In 2021, Iraq was still confronted with multiple armed conflicts and internal tensions taking place in different governorates of the country.

Since its territorial defeat in 2017, ISIL shifted its modus operandi to guerrilla warfare, organising its fighters in small mobile cells and using bases in remote areas to carry out attacks against security forces, mukhtars, civilians and infrastructure such as power facilities.

The Iraqi government supported by the international coalition against ISIL launched a series of successful counterterrorism operations in the central governorates and Baghdad. The US military mission in Iraq ended by the end of 2021, while the US continued to provide training, logistics and advisory support.

The assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the Commander of the Quds Forces of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC-QF) and Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the deputy of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) by the US in January 2020 triggered a wave of retaliatory attacks from various Iranian backed militias on US assets in Iraq.

Since July 2015, Turkey renewed its military operations against the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) inside Iraq and launched a large-scale border offensive.

Iranian and Turkish military forces conducted attacks in the border area to target groups based in KRI, which Turkey and Iran assess to be involved in cross-border terrorism.

Since October 2019, Iraq witnessed massive protests. After a lockdown in the beginning of 2020, due to the pandemic, new protests took place in Central Iraq and the KRI.

On 10 October 2021, Iraq held parliamentary elections. The Sadrist Movement of Moqtada el Sadr won the elections while the Shia factions representing the Iran-aligned militias suffered a significant defeat.