The following is a timeline of major events during the Iraq War, following the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

2003

March

*March 19: The United States begins the invasion of Iraq; coordinating a satellite-guided Tomahawk cruise missile strike on Baghdad. American, British,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n, Polish, and Danish military operations begin; ground troops move into Iraq.

April

*April 10: Fall of Baghdad: Coalition forces moved into Baghdad, symbolically ending the twenty-four year reign of

Iraqi President The president of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Con ...

Saddam Hussein.

May

*May 1: U.S. President George W. Bush declares major combat operations in Iraq over. *May 15 - U.S. forces launch Operation Planet X, capturing roughly 260 people. *May 23 - L. Paul Bremer issues

Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2 Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2: Dissolution of Entities signed by Coalition Provisional Authority on 23 May 2003, disbanded the Iraqi military, security, and intelligence infrastructure of President Saddam Hussein. It has since bec ...

, dissolving the Iraqi Army and other entities of the former Ba'athist state.

June

*June 15: The U.S. military begins Operation Desert Scorpion, a series of raids across Iraq intended to find Iraqi resistance and heavy weapons. *June 24 - Six soldiers from the British Royal Military Police are killed by a mob in

Majar al-Kabir Majar al-Kabir ( ar, المجر الكبير) is a town in Maysan Governorate, southern Iraq, approximately 24 km from Amarah. History In 2003, six British servicemen of the Royal Military Police were killed there during the Battle of Majar al-Kab ...

in Southern Iraq.

July

*July 2: U.S. President George W. Bush challenges those attacking U.S. troops to "bring 'em on!". *July 13: The '' Iraqi Governing Council'' is established under the authority of the Coalition Provisional Authority. *July 22:

Uday Uday or Odai is a masculine name in Arabic as well as several Indian languages. In many Indian languages it means 'dawn' or 'rise'. The Arabic name (عدي) means 'runner' or 'rising'. List of people * Uday Benegal, Indian musician * Uday Pratap Si ...

and Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein's sons, are killed in Mosul during a raid by Task Force 20.

August

*August 7: Bus bombing of the Jordanian embassy, the first VBIED bombing of the occupation. *August 19: Canal Hotel bombing: Truck bomb at the United Nations headquarters kills the top UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others. *August 29: Influential Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim is killed in a car bombing as he leaves his mosque after Friday prayers. At least 84 others are killed.

September

*September 3: First post-Saddam government. *September 23: Gallup poll shows majority of Iraqis expect better life in 5 years. Around two-thirds of Baghdad residents state the Iraqi dictator's removal was worth the hardships they've been forced to endure.

October

*October 2:

David Kay David A. Kay (June 8, 1940 – August 13, 2022) was an American weapons expert, political commentator, and senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. He was best known for his time as United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector follow ...

Iraq Survey Group The Iraq Survey Group (ISG) was a fact-finding mission sent by the multinational force in Iraq to find the weapons of mass destruction alleged to be possessed by Iraq that had been the main ostensible reason for the invasion in 2003. Its final re ...

report finds little evidence of WMD in Iraq, although the regime did intend to develop more weapons with additional capabilities. Such plans and programs appear to have been dormant, the existence of these though were concealed from UNSCOM during the inspections that began in 2002. Weapons inspectors in Iraq did find a clandestine "''network of biological laboratories''" and a deadly strain of botulinum. The US-sponsored search for WMD has so far cost $300 million and is projected to cost around $600 million more. *October 16: UN Security Council issues Resolution 1511 which envisions a multinational force and preserves Washington's quasi-absolute control of Iraq. *October 27:

27 October 2003 Baghdad bombings The 27 October 2003 Baghdad bombings were a series of suicide car bombings targeting the Red Cross headquarters and four Iraqi police stations in Baghdad. The attacks killed 34 people and injured another 224. The bombings began at approxim ...

, beginning of the

Ramadan Offensive Ramadan Offensive may refer to: *Ramadan Offensive (2003) The Ramadan Offensive was a series of insurgent attacks against Coalition and Iraqi military targets from the end of October and during much of November 2003. The attacks are called the ...

November

*November 2: In the heaviest single loss for the coalition troops up to that time, two US Chinook helicopters are fired on by two

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s and one crashes near

Fallujah Fallujah ( ar, ٱلْفَلُّوجَة, al-Fallūjah, Iraqi pronunciation: ) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jew ...

and on its way to Baghdad airport; 16 soldiers are killed and 20 wounded. *November 12: A suicide truck bomb blows up the Italian headquarters in Nasiriyah, killing 19 Italians (17 of them soldiers) and 14 Iraqis. *November 15: The Governing Council unveils an accelerated timetable for transferring the country to Iraqi control. *November 22: 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shoot down incident: An

Airbus A-300 The Airbus A300 is a Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a lar ...

freighter belonging to German courier firm

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

is forced to make an emergency landing with a wing fire and all three hydraulics lost. Using different engine power to land the aircraft, after being struck by a portable shoulder-fired SA-14 missile. *November 27: U.S. President George W. Bush makes a stealthy Thanksgiving Day visit to Baghdad (the White House having announced that he would be at home with his family) in an attempt to boost morale among the troops and ordinary Iraqis. Bush is accompanied by

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

, and he is flown in to Baghdad International Airport aboard

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...

. *November 30: The US military reports killing 46 militants and wounding 18 in clashes in the central =

December

*December 13: Saddam Hussein is captured in Operation Red Dawn; it was announced the next day. *December 17: The

U.S. 4th Infantry Division The 4th Infantry Division is a division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a division headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams (two Stryker and one armor), a combat aviation brigade, a divis ...

launches

Operation Ivy Blizzard Operation Ivy Blizzard, occurred on 17 December 2003, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a counterinsurgent sweep of the Iraqi town of Samarra (part of the Sunni Triangle). The operation involved elements of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division (the ...

, lasting from dawn until mid-morning. The operation resulted in the arrest of 12 insurgents. *December 27:

2003 Karbala bombings The 2003 Karbala bombings consisted of four suicide attacks on the coalition military barracks in Karbala, Iraq, south of Baghdad on December 27, 2003. The attackers targeted two coalition bases and a downtown Iraqi police station where U.S. m ...

2004

January

*January 26: Japanese Iraq Reconstruction and Support groupe: Japanese troops begin participation in most risky military expedition since World War II. *January 28:

testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee expressing doubt about the presence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

February

*February 1: Two suicide bombers strike Kurdish political offices in the northern city of

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. Hu ...

, killing 117 and injuring 133. *February 21: U.S. permits Red Cross to visit Saddam Hussein for first time since his capture in December.

March

*March 2: Multiple bombings in Baghdad and

Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorat ...

at the climax of the

Shi'a Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

festival of

Aashurah Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks th ...

kill nearly 200, the deadliest attacks up to that time. *March 8: Provisional

Iraqi Constitution The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq ( ar, دستور جمهورية العراق Kurdish: دەستووری عێراق) is the fundamental law of Iraq. The first constitution came into force in 1925. The current constitution was adopted on Se ...

signed. *March 31:

31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush The 2004 Fallujah Blackwater incident occurred on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from the private military company Blackwater USA who were conducting a delivery for food caterers ES ...

: Four

Blackwater Blackwater or Black Water may refer to: Health and ecology * Blackwater (coal), liquid waste from coal preparation * Blackwater (waste), wastewater containing feces, urine, and flushwater from flush toilets * Blackwater fever, an acute kidney disea ...

contractors ambushed and killed in

, causing a

First Battle of Fallujah The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004. The chief ca ...

April

*April 4: Beginning of violent clashes between the coalition and followers of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which will end at the end of August 2004. *April 8: Beginning of the kidnapping of foreign civilians in Iraq, with the abduction of several Japanese. *April 18: Spain, led by newly elected

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections ...

( Socialist Party) vows to withdraw its troops. *April 18:

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the CIA committed a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including Physical abuse, physical and sexu ...

; Beginning of the diffusion of images of humiliated Iraqi detainees by US soldiers in

Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib (; ar, أبو غريب, ''Abū Ghurayb'') is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road t ...

. *April 26: The Iraq Interim Governing Council announce a new flag for post-Saddam Iraq. This creates much controversy, in part because of the similarity of color and design with the flag of Israel, and difference with other Arab nation flags. The flag is not adopted.

May

*May 17: Ezzedine Salim, head of the Iraqi Governing Council, killed in a suicide attack. *May 19: Mukaradeeb killings; US bombs a wedding party, killing 42 people.

June

*June 1: Assuming of functions of the Iraqi Interim Government led by Prime minister Iyad Allawi;

Ghazi al-Yawer Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawar ( ar, غازي مشعل عجيل الياور, born 1958) is an Iraqi politician. He was the vice president under the Iraqi Transitional Government in 2006, and was interim president of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Gove ...

is designed head of the Iraqi state. *June 8:

UN Security Council Resolution 1546 United Nations Security Council resolution 1546, adopted unanimously on 8 June 2004, after reaffirming previous resolutions on Iraq, the Council endorsed the formation of the Iraqi Interim Government, welcomed the end of the occupation and dete ...

on the transfer of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority to the Iraqi Interim Government. *June 21: 2004 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel *June 28: At 10:26 AM, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority formally transferred sovereignty of Iraqi territory to the Iraqi interim government, two days ahead of schedule. L. Paul Bremer departed the country two hours later. *June 30: Saddam Hussein and eleven high ex-governmental figures are put under the Iraqi Interim Government's authority.

July

*July 1: Trial of Saddam Hussein: Saddam Hussein appears at his first hearing. *July 20: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, president of the Philippines, confirms that hostage

Angelo de la Cruz Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning " angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name * Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church * Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian ...

has been freed by his captors after their demands for a one-month-early withdrawal of all 51 Filipino troops from Iraq were met.

August

*August 5–27: Forces loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr resist government authority in Najaf; the fighting is ended with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's help.

September

*September 14: The Haifa Street helicopter incident kills 13 Iraqis and is televised around the world. *September 30: A car strikes an American officer handing out candy to children, killing up to 35 children.

October

*October 1: Battle of Samarra (2004) *17 October: Al-Zarqawi pledged allegiance to

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

network *Late October: The Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy comes to light.

November

*November 7: Second Battle of Fallujah begins. *November 8: Insurgents regroup and begin the Battle of Mosul.

December

*December 21:

2004 Forward Operating Base Marez bombing The Forward Operating Base Marez bombing took place on December 21, 2004. Fourteen U.S. soldiers, four U.S. citizen Halliburton employees, and four Iraqi soldiers allied with the U.S. military were killed by a suicide bomber in a dining hall a ...

kills 22, including 18 Americans.

2005

January

*January 26: 31 US soldiers die in a helicopter crash, deadliest day of the entire postwar period for the US military. *January 30: Iraqi legislative election. The Shia United Iraqi Alliance obtained a majority, followed by the

Kurdish Alliance The Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK) sometimes referred to simply as the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) is the name of the electoral coalition first presented as a united Kurdish list in the January 2005 election in Iraq. Elections were ...

; Sunnis largely boycotted.

February

*February 28:

2005 Al Hillah bombing The Al Hillah bombing killed 127 people, chiefly men lining up to join the Iraqi police forces, at the recruiting centre on February 28, 2005 in Al Hillah, Iraq. The bombing caused a worsening of Iraqi-Jordanian diplomatic relations after it ...

: In the deadliest single blast up to that time, a car bomb kills 127 in Hillah; the identity of the bomber as a Jordanian caused a diplomatic row between Iraq and Jordan.

March

*March 4: Rescue of Giuliana Sgrena: Liberation of Italian journalist

Giuliana Sgrena Giuliana Sgrena (born 20 December 1948) is an Italian journalist who works for the Italian communist newspaper '' il manifesto'' and the German weekly '' Die Zeit''. While working in Iraq, she was kidnapped by insurgents on 4 February 2005. After ...

, during which secret Italian agent

Nicola Calipari Nicola Calipari (June 23, 1953March 4, 2005) was an Italian major general and SISMI military intelligence officer. Calipari was accidentally killed by American soldiers while escorting a recently released Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sg ...

is killed by US fire. Berlusconi's government announces a partial retreat of Italian troops from the coalition. *March 16 First meeting of the transitional National Assembly. *March 31: The Iraqi Intelligence Commission concludes in its final report that prewar intelligence regarding WMD's was false.

April

*April 2: Battle of Abu Ghraib *April 6: Election of Kurdish Jalal Talabani as

President of Iraq The president of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Con ...

. *April 7: Ibrahim al-Jaafari is nominated as

Prime minister of Iraq The prime minister of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister. History The prime minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, a ...

. *April 28: The Parliament votes its trust towards the new government.

May

*May 8: Battle of Al Qaim, US aiming to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. *May 15 Formation of the parliamentary commission charged of the draft of the new Constitution.

July

*July 19:

2005 Musayyib bombing The 2005 Musayyib bombing was a suicide attack on a marketplace in Musayyib, Iraq, a town 35 miles south of Baghdad on July 16, 2005. The attacker had detonated his explosive belt in a crowded marketplace, where hundreds of people had come to ...

kills nearly 100 Shia.

August

*August 1–4:

Battle of Haditha The Battle of Haditha was a battle fought between United States, U.S. forces and Ansar al-Sunna in early August 2005 on the outskirts of the town of Haditha, Iraq, which was one of the many towns that were under insurgent control in the Euphrate ...

*August 15: Unable to find a consensus between the main political leaders, the Parliament postpones for a week the transmission of the draft constitution to its members. *August 22: The constitution's draft is presented to the Iraqi Parliament. *August 28: The constitution is presented to parliament. *August 31:

2005 Baghdad bridge stampede The Al-Aimmah Bridge disaster () occurred on August 31, 2005 when 953 people died following a panic, and subsequent crowd crush, on the Al-Aimmah Bridge, which crosses the Tigris river in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Incident At the time of ...

: Rumors of a suicide bomber lead to a stampede on the

Al-Aaimmah bridge Al-Aimmah Bridge ( ar, جسر الأئمة, Jisr al-'Ā'immah, lit=Bridge of the Imams) is a bridge over the river Tigris in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The bridge links the areas of A'dhamiyyah, which is a majority Sunni Arab area, from its ea ...

; about 1,000 people died.

September

*September 1: Battle of Tal Afar: US troops launch an offensive in Tal Afar, a city that would become a "model" for the Americans. *September 14:

14 September 2005 Baghdad bombings The 14 September 2005 Baghdad bombings were a series of more than a dozen terrorist attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The most deadly bombing occurred when a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle in a crowd of construction workers who ...

: In the deadliest day of the insurgency in Baghdad, bombs kill 160 and injure more than 500. *September 19: Basra prison incident: British troops storm a police station in Basra to free two soldiers being held there. *September 29: Bombings in Balad kill at least 95.

October

*October 15:

2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum The electorate of Iraq went to the polls on 15 October 2005 to vote in a referendum on whether or not to ratify the proposed constitution of Iraq. After 10 days of counting votes, the country's electoral commission announced that the constitution ...

: Voters approve Iraq's new constitution. *Oct. 19: Start of Saddam Hussein's trial. *Oct. 24 – The Palestine Hotel and the

Sheraton Ishtar The Ishtar Hotel is a hotel in Baghdad, Iraq located on Firdos Square. At 99 meters tall, it is the tallest building in Baghdad and the tallest structure in Iraq after the Baghdad Tower. History Named after the ancient goddess Ishtar, the hot ...

hotel in Baghdad are hit by truck bombs; the attacks are captured on film.

November

*Nov. 5:

Operation Steel Curtain Operation Steel Curtain (Arabic: الحجاب الفولاذي Al Hejab Elfulathi) was a military operation executed by coalition forces in early November 2005 to reduce the flow of foreign insurgents crossing the border and joining the Iraqi ...

launched to root out foreign fighters. *Nov. 15 - 173 prisoners are found in an Iraqi government bunker in Baghdad, having been starved, beaten and tortured. *Nov. 18: Bombings in Khanaqin kill at least 74. *Nov. 19: Haditha killings: American soldiers kill 24 people, including 15 noncombatants, in Haditha, after an insurgent attack. *Nov. 25:

2005–2006 Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis The Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis involved four human rights workers of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) who were held hostage in Iraq from November 26, 2005 by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. One hostage, Tom Fox, was killed, and the r ...

begins.

December

*December 14 - U.S. President George W. Bush says that the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was the result of faulty intelligence, and accepts responsibility for that decision. He maintains that his decision was still justified. *December 15: December 2005 Iraqi legislative election

2006

February

*February 22 The al-Askari Mosque bombing (2006): Shi’ite

Al Askari Mosque , native_name_lang = ara , image = Al-Asakari Mosque 4.jpg , image_upright = 1.4 , alt = , caption = Al-Asakari Mosque in January 2017 , map_type = Iraq , map_size = 240 , map_alt = , map_relief = 1 , map_caption = Location in Iraq , ...

is bombed by Sunni militants, sparking a sectarian civil war. Shi’ite, Sunni and other militant groups also start advancing within Baghdad.

March

*March 12: Mahmudiyah killings.

April

*April 24: Hamdania incident. Marines allegedly abduct an Iraqi civilian from a house, kill him, and place components and spent AK-47 cartridges near his body to make it appear he was planting an IED.

May

*May 20 The new Iraqi government, which succeeds to the Iraqi Transitional Government, begins its functions.

June

*June 7

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a t ...

is killed. *June 14:

Operation Together Forward Operation Together Forward, also known as Forward Together (Arabic: عملية معاً إلى الأمام, Amaliya Ma’an ila Al-Amam), was an unsuccessful offensive against sectarian militias in Baghdad to significantly reduce the violence i ...

begins. *June 17: Battle of Ramadi (2006) begins.

July

*July 9: Hay al Jihad massacre - Shia militias kill 40 Sunnis. *July 23: Two powerful bombs in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood kill at least 66. *July 24 Saddam Hussein, 69, the deposed former Iraqi President, is force-fed in a Baghdad hospital through a tube after 16 days of hunger strike. *July 25 Operation River Falcon begins.

August

October

*Oct. 19: Battle of Amarah. Clashes erupt between the

Mahdi Army The Peace Companies ( ar, سرايا السلام, or Saraya al Salam) are an Iraqi armed group linked to Iraq's Shia community. They are a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army ( ''Jaysh al-Mahdī'') that was created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada a ...

and the

Badr Organization The Badr Organization ( ar, منظمة بدر ''Munaẓẓama Badr''), previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps, is an Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and military organization headed by Hadi Al-Amiri. The Badr Brigade was the Ir ...

. *Oct. 28: The first of the Chlorine bombings in Iraq.

November

*November 7 - The

United States midterm elections Midterm elections in the United States are the general elections that are held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term of office, on Election Day on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Federal offices that are up for e ...

removed the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

from control of both chambers of the United States Congress. The failings in the Iraq War were cited as one of the main causes of the Republicans' defeat, even though the Bush administration had attempted to distance itself from its earlier "stay the course" rhetoric. *November 19: Ammar al-Saffar, Deputy Health Minister, becomes the highest-ranking Iraqi to be kidnapped. *

23 November 2006 Sadr City bombings The 2006 Sadr City bombings were a series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Iraq that occurred on 23 November at 15:10 Baghdad time (12:10 Greenwich Mean Time) and ended at 15:55 (12:55 UTC). Six car bombs and two mortar rounds were used in th ...

kill more than 200 Shias in Sadr City.

December

*December 6: The Iraq Study Group releases their final report. *December 21: 2006 US raid on Iranian diplomats *December 25:

Diyala campaign The Diyala province campaign was a series of operations conducted by coalition forces against Iraqi insurgents and a number of bombing and guerrilla attacks against the security forces in Diyala Governorate of Iraq, with the purpose of control ...

begins. *Dec. 30: Execution of Saddam Hussein.

2007

January

*January 10: The Iraq War troop surge of 2007 is announced. *January 11: US raid on Iranian Liaison Office in Arbil. *January 20: The

Karbala provincial headquarters raid The Karbala provincial headquarters raid was a special operation carried out on January 20, 2007, by The Mahdi army, on the U.S. contingent of the Joint Security Station located within the Iraqi Police headquarters. The assault, which left five ...

results in the kidnapping and killing of five American soldiers. The US blames Iran. *January 28: Followers of the Shia cult Soldiers of Heaven initiate the

Battle of Najaf (2007) The Battle of Najaf took place on 28 January 2007 at Zarqa (alt. Zarga) near Najaf, Iraq, between Iraqi Security Forces (later assisted by U.S. and UK forces) and fighters, initially thought to be Sunni insurgents but later reported to be memb ...

, which left nearly 300 dead.

February

*February 3: A bomb in Baghdad market kills 135 people. *February 6: Baghdad kidnapping of Iranian diplomat. *February 27:

Siege of U.K. bases in Basra The Battle of Basra was initiated by the Mahdi Army to capture the city of Basra in 2007. Following the reported major failure of the coalition forces, whose purpose was to stabilise Basra and prepare it for the turning over of security to Ir ...

begins.

March

*March 6:

2007 Al Hillah bombings The 2007 Al Hillah bombings killed 200 people, mostly Shia Muslims on a pilgrimage, on 6 March 2007 in Al Hillah Hillah ( ar, ٱلْحِلَّة ''al-Ḥillah''), also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq on the Hilla branch of the Euphra ...

kill 120 Shias. *March 23:

2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel On 23 March 2007, fifteen Royal Navy personnel from were searching a merchant vessel when they were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and detained off the Iran–Iraq coast. In the course of events, British forces cl ...

: Iran seizes 15 British Royal Navy personnel patrolling near Iraq, who are released on 4 April. *March 27: A bombing in Tal Afar, which killed 152, set off Shia retaliation which left 70 Sunnis dead. *March 29:

Suicide bombings in Baghdad Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

kill 82 Shias. *

Battle of Baqubah The Battle of Baqubah II (March–August 2007) took place during the Iraq War in the capital of the Iraqi province Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad. It began in early March 2007, when U.S. and Iraqi forces commenced preliminary operations ...

April

*April 6:

Operation Black Eagle Operation Black Eagle is an operation that took place during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003 to 2010. It was the 381st listed operation during the Iraq war in 2003 Black Eagle was an operation in which U.S. Polish, and Iraqi troops battled gun ...

. Fighting between Coalition forces and the Madhi Army. *April 18: Bombings across Baghdad kill nearly 200. *April 23:

2007 Mosul massacre The 2007 Yazidi massacre was a massacre of Yazidis that took place on April 22, 2007, in Mosul, in northern Iraq. Massacre At around 2PM (GMT+3), a bus carrying workers from the Mosul Textile Factory en route to Bashiqa, Al-Hamdaniya District w ...

of Yazidi workers, in revenge for the

Stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswad Du'a Khalil Aswad (دعاء خليل أسود) (c. 1989 – c. 7 April 2007) was a 17-year-old Iraqi girl of the Yazidi faith who was stoned to death in Bashiqa, Ninawa, northern Iraq in early April 2007, the victim of an honor killing. It is b ...

May

*The

Iraq oil law (2007) The Iraq Oil Law, also referred to as the Iraq Hydrocarbon Law was a piece of legislation submitted to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in May 2007 that laid out a framework for the regulation and development of Iraq's oil fields. Start of pro ...

is proposed.

June

*June 13: 2007 al-Askari Mosque bombing blows up two of the mosque's minarets. *June 16:

Operation Phantom Thunder Operation Phantom Thunder began on 16 June 2007, when Multi-National Force-Iraq launched major offensive operations against al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorists operating throughout Iraq. Operation Phantom Thunder was a corps level operation ...

begins.

July

*July 12: The

Initial Benchmark Assessment Report The Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq (sometimes referred to as the Petraeus Report) was a two-part report released on September 10, 2007 by General of the Multinational force in Iraq David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan ...

is released. *July 16: The 2007 Kirkuk bombings kill 86. *July 17: Truck bomb in Amirli kills 156. *July 26: A Baghdad market is bombed, killing 92.

August

Operation Phantom Strike Operation Phantom Strike was a major offensive launched by the Multi-National Corps – Iraq on 15 August 2007 in a crackdown to disrupt both the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Shia insurgent operations in Iraq. It consisted of a ...

begins. *August 14:

2007 Yazidi communities bombings The 2007 Yazidi communities bombings occurred on August 14, 2007, when four coordinated suicide car bomb attacks detonated in the Yazidi towns of Til Ezer (al-Qahtaniyah) and Siba Sheikh Khidir (al-Jazirah), in northern Iraq. There were 796 pe ...

. In the most deadly insurgent strikes to date, four bombings in Kahtaniya and Jazeera, in northern Iraq, strike Yazidi communities, killing 796 people and injuring more than 1,500.

September

*The

Nisour Square massacre The Nisour Square massacre occurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military company contracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at Iraqi civilian ...

in Baghdad killed 17 Iraqi civilians.

2008

January

*January 8: Operation Phantom Phoenix begins. *January 18:

2008 Iraqi Day of Ashura fighting The 2008 Iraqi Day of Ashura fighting was a series of clashes that occurred on the Islamic holy day of Ashura on January 18, 2008 and the next day in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Nasiriyah. The battles were fought between the Iraqi security force ...

. *January 23:

Ninawa campaign The 2008 Nineveh campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq in early-to-mid-2008. Some fighting also occurred in the neighboring Kirkuk G ...

begins.

February

* Bombings in Baghdad kill 98. *February 21:

2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq The 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, code-named Operation Sun ( tr, Güneş Harekatı) by the Turkish Armed Forces, began on February 21, 2008, when the Turkish Army sent troops into northern Iraq to target the Kurdistan Workers' Part ...

Turkey launches an offensive in northern Iraq against PKK rebels.

March

*March 23:

Iraq spring fighting of 2008 The 2008 Iraq spring fighting was a series of clashes between the Mahdi Army and allies and the Iraqi Army supported by coalition forces, in southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad, that began with an Iraqi offensive in Basra. Background In 2007, ...

. *March 25:

Battle of Basra (2008) The Battle of Basra began on 25 March 2008, when the Iraqi Army launched an operation (code-named ''Saulat al-Fursan'', meaning Operation Charge of the Knights in Arabic) to drive the Mahdi Army militia out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra. ...

July

*July 29:

Operation Augurs of Prosperity Operation Augurs of Prosperity (Arabic: ''Bashaer al-Kheir'') was an Iraqi operation against insurgents in Diyala, north-east of Baghdad. The operation was launched on 29 July 2008 by elements of at least three Iraqi Army divisions, with four U ...

launched.

October

*Oct. 26:

2008 Abu Kamal raid The 2008 Abu Kamal raid was an attack carried out by helicopter-borne CIA paramilitary officers from Special Activities Division and United States Special Operations Command, Joint Special Operations Command inside Syrian territory on October 26, ...

into

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

November

2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul 2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul was a series of attacks which targeted the Christians in Mosul, Iraq. The Christians of Mosul who were already targeted during the Iraq War left the city en masse heading to Assyrian villages in Nineveh Plains ...

*The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which stipulates that U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, is approved and ratified by the Iraqi Parliament.

2009

January

*January 31:

2009 Iraqi governorate elections Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 31 January 2009, to replace the local councils in fourteen of the eighteen governorates of Iraq that were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections. 14,431 candidates, including 3,91 ...

*A total of 191 Iraqis were killed in violence during January, the lowest monthly toll since the US-led invasion of March 2003.At least 26 dead as bombs, shootings shatter Iraq lull
Retrieved on 11 February 2009 Sixteen U.S. troops died in Iraq during this month.

May

*May 11: Camp Liberty killings *May 28: The last of the U.K.'s combat troops are withdrawn.

July 25

2009 Iraqi Kurdistan legislative election The Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections of 2009 took place on 25 July 2009. A total of 2.5 million citizens of Kurdistan Region were eligible to vote for the parliamentary and presidential elections. People currently living outside Kurdistan ...

August

19 August 2009 Baghdad bombings The August 2009 Baghdad bombings were three coordinated car bomb attacks and a number of mortar strikes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on 19 August 2009. The explosives were detonated simultaneously across the capital at approximately 10:45 in ...

kill 101.

October

25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings were attacks in Baghdad, Iraq which killed 155 people and injured at least 721 people. Attack The attack was caused by two suicide car bombs, in a minivan and a 26-seat bus, which targeted the Ministry of ...

kill 155.

December

8 December 2009 Baghdad bombings The December 2009 Baghdad bombings were attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of at least 127 people and injuries to at least 448 more. The attacks have been condemned internationally as acts of terrorism. Opposition parties w ...

kill 127. *December 31: The US suffers only four troop deaths, and no combat deaths, the lowest figure since the war began.

2010

March

*March 7:

2010 Iraqi parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 7 March 2010. The elections decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives who would elect the prime minister and president. The elections resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi Nationa ...

April

*April 18: Islamic State of Iraq leaders Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi are killed in a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation near Tikrit, Iraq.

August

*August 18: American combat operations in Iraq end as its last combat brigade departs for Kuwait.

September

*September 30: 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment conducted a Transition of Authority with 3rd BDE, 3rd ID and assumed responsibility for the five northern Provinces of United States Division-South under MG Vincent Brooks and the 1st Infantry Division.

3d Armored Cavalry Regiment The 3rd Cavalry Regiment, formerly 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment ("Brave Rifles") is a regiment of the United States Army currently stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. The regiment has a history in the United States Army that dates back to 19 May 1 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iraq War Timeline * * United States military history timelines Timelines of military conflicts since 1945