Iraqi insurgency — ongoing warfare in mainly central Iraq, which began after the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The Iraqi insurgency marked eight years of asymmetric conflict following the 2003 invasion, culminating in sectarian civil war and shaping the conditions for the later rise of the Islamic State.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 2003–2011
- Civil war onset
- February 2006
- Shia population share
- ~60%
- Sunni population share
- ~35%
- Civil war ended
- Mid-2008, after 2007 U.S. troop surge
- U.S. withdrawal
- December 2011
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq deposed Saddam Hussein, dissolving the existing state structure and leaving a power vacuum. This galvanized a diverse coalition of Ba'athist loyalists, local opponents of foreign occupation, and foreign jihadists, whose grievances were further inflamed by deep sectarian tensions between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslim populations.
From 2003 to 2011, insurgent groups—including private militias, pro-Saddam Ba'athists, and jihadist fighters—waged an asymmetric war of attrition against Multi-National Force–Iraq troops and the new Iraqi government. By February 2006, the conflict had escalated into an open Shia–Sunni civil war, with militants simultaneously targeting coalition forces, Iraqi security services, and sectarian rivals.
The American troop surge of 2007 suppressed the civil war by mid-2008, and U.S. forces completed their withdrawal in December 2011. However, the underlying sectarian and political tensions persisted, fueling a renewed insurgency that within two years escalated into the Second Iraq War, driven largely by the rise of the Islamic State.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Nouri al-Maliki.
Side B
3 belligerents