Salahuddin campaign
Part of the Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017) and
the Military intervention against ISIL

A map of the Salahuddin Province, located in north-central Iraq, north of the capital city of Baghdad
Date5 June 2014 – 8 October 2016
(2 years, 4 months and 3 days)
Location
Salahuddin Province, Iraq
Result

Major Iraqi victory: Iraqi Government forces retakes nearly all ISIL-held parts of the province.

Territorial
changes		 The eastern, central, and southern parts of the Salahuddin Province are captured by Iraqi Security Forces, by late October 2016
Belligerents

Iraq Iraq

Iranian-led intervention:
Iran Iran[1]
Hezbollah[1]
Shia militias:
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq[2]
Badr Organization[2]
Kata'ib Hezbollah[3]
Muqawimun[4]

U.S.-led intervention:
 United States[5]
 United Kingdom[6]
 Canada[7]
 France[8][9]		 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Commanders and leaders
Iraq Haidar al-Abadi
Iraq Khaled Obeidi
Iraq General Ayub Khalif †[10]
Iraq Saleh Jaber[11]
Akram al-Kaabi[12]
Hadi Al-Amiri
Iran Qasem Soleimani[12]
United States Barack Obama
United Kingdom David Cameron (Until 2016)
United Kingdom Theresa May (From 2016)
Canada Stephen Harper (Until 2015)
Canada Justin Trudeau (From 2015)
France François Hollande

Abu Ayman al-Iraqi †
(Head of Military Shura)[13][14]
Abu Suleiman †
(Replacement Military Chief)[14]

Islamic State Abu Muslim al-Turkmani †
(Deputy, Iraq)[15]
Abu Nabil al-Anbari †
(ISIL Governor of the Saladin Governorate)
Abu Maria †
(Top ISIL leader in Tikrit)[16]
Units involved

Iraq Iraqi Armed Forces
Iran Iranian Armed Forces

 United States Air Force
 Royal Air Force

 Royal Canadian Air Force
French Air Force

Military of ISIL

Anti-Government fighters

Strength
20,000–30,000+[21][22] 14,000+[23][24]
Casualties and losses

Several thousand killed or executed[25][26][27]

4,000+ captured[28]		 3,000+ killed[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]
46 civilians killed[30][36]
28,000 civilians displaced[37]
28,000 civilians displaced[37]
100 civilians abducted by ISIL[38]

The Salahuddin Campaign was a military conflict in the Saladin Governorate (Salahuddin Governorate), located in north-central Iraq, involving various factions (both internal & external) fighting against a single common enemy, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The province exited Iraqi government control during ISIL's Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) when large swathes of the north of the country were captured by the militant group with the Iraqi national army quickly disintegrating in the path of its advance. In light of the sweeping gains of the militants, Nouri Al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq at that time, attempted to declare a state of emergency though the Iraqi Parliament blocked his efforts to do so.[39]

The cities of Baiji and Tikrit (Saddam Hussein's birthplace and stronghold) fell to ISIS and the group even reached the city of Samarra itself but could not wrest control of it due to the resistance it encountered by the Iraqi security forces in conjunction with the Shi'ite paramilitaries.[40] Both the United States and Iran intervened in order to stem the tide against ISIS and were relatively successful in the breaking of the Siege of Amirli in which both parties played a significant role (however they did not and still do not officially cooperate or coordinate their respective efforts with one another). Although in the First Battle of Tikrit ISIS consolidated their control over the city and strongly repulsed any attempts at its recapture by Iraqi security forces and militia contingents.

After months of preparatory maneuvers and intelligence gathering, a force of over 23,000[41] allied fighters including the Iraqi armed forces, Shi'ite private militias and Sunni tribal militias began an offensive in early March[42][43] to encircle ISIL and entrap their fighters in Tikrit and its environs in the Second Battle of Tikrit. The operation met with decisive success, with all the ISIL militants being encircled and subsequently killed or captured in Tikrit.

ISIL gains in 2014

In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq back in 2003 the insurgency in the Sunni areas of the country took on a distinct Islamist nature of their own. After the departure of the U.S. from Iraq the insurgency gained some long-lost momentum and the casualty statistics started to increase once again. However, it was not until the advent of the Syrian Civil War that the instability created in a neighbouring country provided the fertile ground for the group formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq to blossom into a formidable and distinct rebel-faction strong enough to eventually turn on the lesser rebel groups and easily expel them from eastern Syria and soon establish a state with a de facto capital in Raqqah. This enabled it to launch a formidable assault on what would prove to be an irresolute and demoralised Iraqi army from a secure base across the Syrian-Iraqi border. The result was a devastating collapse in the military infrastructure of the Iraqi government with entire divisions throwing down their weapons and fleeing ISIS without a fight as happened in the Fall of Mosul.

Allied progress

Despite recapturing both Baiji (only temporarily) and Amirli from ISIS, the Iraqi government was still struggling to drive out the militants who seized large swathes of the country in the face of the crumbling Iraqi Army. The most recent concerted effort is the Second Battle of Tikrit where the combined forces of the allies (with extensive military & intelligence support from Iran) are attempting to encircle the Jihadists in Tikrit by capturing Al-Dour and Al-Alam in the south and the north respectively, in order to cut them off and begin a siege against ISIS-occupied Tikrit. According to numerous sources the city of Al-Dour has already fallen and operation have commenced against Al-Alam in the north. ISIS has sent reinforcements to Tikrit from other parts of its self-proclaimed caliphate further north, where it came under attack on Monday from Kurdish forces around the oil-rich-city of Kirkuk.[11]

The advance against ISIS however has been quite slow due to the extensive use of asymmetric tactics such as planting IEDs along routes of advance, the use of suicide bombers, tactically placed snipers etc. all of which has prompted the Iraqi officers to progress with particular caution against the enemy in order to minimise casualties as well as to guard against unnecessary civilian deaths as Isis fighters are said to be holding "an unspecified number of civilians as human shields" in Tikrit and other cities.[44][45] An indication of the intensity and volume to which these tactics are being utilised by ISIS is given by the report mentioning over 382 IEDs by 11 of March.[46] An Iraqi major general has been quoted as saying "We don't want to be rushed because we want to avoid casualties. Tikrit is sealed off from all sides."[47]

At least 50 ISIS fighters have turned themselves into the allied forces' hands in the town of Al-Dour on 8 March.[48] On the following day, 9 March, the town of al-Alam was captured by the allied forces and completely secured, in effect completing the encirclement of ISIS in Tikrit.[49] On March 11, ISIL was driven from Tikrit hospital complex in the south of the city.[50]

Despite ISIS' efforts to forestall the rapid advance of the allies on the east of the Tigris river by blowing up the bridge leading to the city over the Tigris, the allies managed to mount an aggressive push across the river and establish a bridgehead, subsequently advancing into Tikrit via the east.[51] ISIS has been suffering heavy casualties, with reports of their dead littering the streets and with only 2,000 to 3,000 militants left to make a last stand in the city of Tikrit itself.[52]

On 25 March, the allied forces were supposed to resume their offensive,[53] as the American-led coalition launched its first airstrikes on ISIL targets in Tikrit.[54][55] That night, US aircraft carried out 17 airstrikes in the center of Tikrit, which struck an ISIL building, two bridges, three checkpoints, two staging areas, two berms, a roadblock, and a command and control facility.[5] As a result of the US entry into the battle, most of the Shi'ite militias present pulled out of the battle on 27 March, with the exception of the Badr Organisation.[56]

On 31 March, the Iraqi security forces advanced into the city center,[57] seizing the Salaheddin provincial government headquarters and the Tikrit hospital, as they moved towards the presidential complex.[58][59] By On 2 April, the allied forces had secured nearly all of central Tikrit.[60] where a few hundred ISIL fighters were still present.[61]

On 4 April, Iraqi forces had recaptured most of Tikrit city;[62] however, on 5 April, it was reported that 500 ISIL fighters were still holed up in the northern Qadisiya District,[63] with resistance from the remaining ISIL fighters persisting for another week.[64][65] On 12 April 2015, the Iraqi Government declared that Tikrit was free of ISIL forces,[66] although continued resistance would persist until 17 April, when the last 130 ISIL sleeper agents in the city were killed.[31][67] Cleanup and defusing operations in the city continued, but Iraqi officials predicted that it would take at least several months to remove the estimated 5,000–10,000 IEDs left behind by ISIL in Tikrit.[30]

Asymmetric blow-back

The continuing success of the allied forces (which are composed of mostly Shi'ite paramilitary groups, though they also contain a significant Sunni contingent),[68] particularly in Sunni areas such as Tikrit, where ISIS has been losing a series of conventional battles, has prompted them to utilise more guerilla-like stratagems such as sending out coordinated teams of suicide-bombers to Baghdad, the capital and political nerve centre of the Iraqi government, in order to bring some pressure to bear on the allies.[52] The strategic logic of these operations was explicated by an Iraq expert & security analyst Sajad Jiyad; "It's keeping the ISF on their toes. It's to let them know that they can strike anywhere, to force them to spread their forces thin. By letting off such a large series of explosions, it's sending a message that they are going to have to put their forces everywhere. It shows that ISIS can carry out these attacks at will and the ISF cannot relax its guard."[52]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Iraq admits Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian RG fight alongside Iraqi security forces".
  2. 1 2 Black, Ian (16 June 2014). "Qassim Suleimani: commander of Quds force, puppeteer of the Middle East". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  3. ↑ Roggio, Bill (10 September 2014). "US aided Hezbollah Brigades in breaking ISIL siege of Iraqi town". Long War Journal. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Khedery, Ali (22 August 2014). "How Isis came to be". Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Operation Inherent Resolve Strike Updates". United States Department of Defense. January 26, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  6. ↑ "RAF air strikes in Iraq: November 2014". gov.uk. 22 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "ISIS Weapons Hit by CF-18 Jets in Northern Iraq". CBC News. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "France launches first bombing strike against ISIS in Tikrit". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Abdelhak Mamoun (27 March 2015). "France launchs [sic] its first air strike against ISIS in Tikrit". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Abdelhak Mamoun (21 April 2015). "Funeral honors General Khalif and soldiers who defended Baiji refinery against ISIS". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Iraqi security forces enter Baiji refinery". Al-Arabiya. 2014-11-18. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
  12. 1 2 3 "Iraqi forces, Iranian-supported militias report success in Baiji - The Long War Journal". 14 November 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Hubbard, Ben; Schmitt, Eric (27 August 2014). "Military Skill and Terrorist Technique Fuel Success of ISIS". New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  14. 1 2 Alessandria Masi (11 November 2014). "If ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Is Killed, Who Is Caliph Of The Islamic State Group?". International Business Times. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Matt Bradley and Ghassan Adnan in Baghdad, and Felicia Schwartz in Washington (10 November 2014). "Coalition Airstrikes Targeted Islamic State Leaders Near Mosul". WSJ. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Kukil Bora (13 April 2015). "ISIS Leader Abu Maria Killed By Iraqi Forces In Tikrit: Report". International Business Times. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "BBC News - Iran jets bomb Islamic State targets in Iraq - Pentagon". BBC News. 3 December 2014.
  18. ↑ Hassan, Hassan (17 June 2014). "More Than ISIS, Iraq's Sunni Insurgency". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Military council of the rebels starts setting governors on their captured cities". Elaph. Osama Mahdi. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  20. ↑ "Former Loyalists of Saddam Hussein Crucial in Helping ISIS". The New York Times. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  21. ↑ Al-Jawoshy, Omar (2 March 2015). "Iraqi Offensive to Retake Tikrit From ISIS Begins". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "al-Araby al-Jadeed English - Iraqi government forces and militias begin Tikrit offensive". Alaraby.co.uk. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  23. ↑ Al-Araal-Jadeed/Associated Press (2 March 2015). "al-Araby al-Jadeed English - Iraqi government forces and militias begin Tikrit offensive". alaraby. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  24. ↑ Abdelhak Mamoun (14 April 2015). "Hundreds of ISIS fighters arrive on Salahuddin outskirts". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  25. ↑ Aryn Baker (15 June 2014). "ISIS In Iraq Claims Massacre of 1700 Soldiers". TIME.com. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  26. ↑ "ISTANBUL: Operation to retake Tikrit from Islamic State stalled by heavy casualties, discord - Iraq - McClatchy DC". McClatchy DC. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "البشمركة وقوات عراقية تدخلان بلدة سليمان بيك". Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  28. ↑ "(4000)". 7 September 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Combat vehicle
  30. 1 2 3 "Lessons From the Second Battle of Tikrit: March 2-April 4, 2015". The Huffington Post. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  31. 1 2 Abdelhak Mamoun (17 April 2015). "130 ISIS elements killed, sleeper cells found in Tikrit". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  32. ↑ "Saddam Hussein's former deputy killed near Tikrit: report". NY Daily News. New York. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  33. ↑ 160+ killed in the Battle of Baiji
  34. ↑ "Baghdad: oil town Baiji in 'almost fully' under control". Rudaw. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  35. ↑ "Deadlock in battle for Iraq refinery casts doubts on Mosul campaign". Reuters. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  36. ↑ "Iraq Body Count -- Database". www.iraqbodycount.org. Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  37. 1 2 "Islamic State crisis: Thousands flee Iraqi advance on Tikrit". BBC News. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  38. ↑ Amre Sarhan (9 April 2015). "ISIS militants abduct 100 civilians north of Tikrit". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  39. ↑ "Obama's Iraq dilemma: Fighting the ISIL puts US and Iran on the same side". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  40. ↑ "Iraq dislodges insurgents from city of Samarra with airstrikes". Reuters. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  41. ↑ "Islamic State will be forced out of Tikrit, says top US general". the Guardian. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  42. ↑ "Advancing Iraq troops enter strategic town on edge of Tikrit". Reuters. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  43. ↑ "Top US general optimistic about outcome of Tikrit battle". Daily Times. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  44. ↑ "ISIL militants slow Tikrit advance with bombs and snipers". 4 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  45. ↑ Simon Tisdall (2 March 2015). "Iraq's assault on Isis sparks fears of new atrocities in the Sunni triangle". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  46. ↑ "Iraqi forces enter parts of Tikrit in major offensive". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  47. ↑ "Wary Iraq forces tighten noose on IS in Tikrit". Yahoo News UK. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  48. ↑ Leith Fadel (8 March 2015). "The Iraqi Army has Captured a Strategic Town Near Tikrit". Al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  49. ↑ Leith Fadel (9 March 2015). "Breaking: Iraqi Security Forces Capture Al-'Alam; Tikrit is Encircled". Al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  50. ↑ Kareem Khadder and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN (11 March 2015). "Iraqi forces take military hospital from ISIS as Tikrit offensive continues". CNN. Retrieved 12 March 2015. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  51. ↑ Al-Masdar News (11 March 2015). "Battle Map Update: Iraqi Army Encircles ISIS at Tikrit". Al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  52. 1 2 3 "Facing Defeat in Tikrit, ISIS Escalates Attacks Closer to Baghdad". Newsweek. 11 March 2015.
  53. ↑ "Iraqi Volunteers Fighting For Tikrit Say The Army Is Nowhere To Be Found". International Business Times. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  54. ↑ "Islamic State conflict: US launches Tikrit air strikes". BBC News. 25 March 2015.
  55. ↑ "Opening New Iraq Front, U.S. Strikes ISIS in Tikrit". The New York Times. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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  63. ↑ "Hundreds of ISIS fighters, suicide bombers holed up in Tikrit district". Rudaw. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  64. ↑ "Nocookies". The Australian. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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  66. ↑ Sinclair Broadcast Group. "Iraq: Tears For Tikrit". keyetv.com Austin News, Weather, Traffic KEYE-TV Austin. Archived from the original on 25 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  67. ↑ "Liberated from Islamic State, Tikrit struggles with reconciliation". PBS NewsHour. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  68. ↑ Cunningham, Erin (11 March 2015). "Iraqi forces break militants' hold on Tikrit in major battle against Islamic State". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
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