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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

begins the

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 ...

; coordinating a satellite-guided

Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. Under contract fr ...

strike on Baghdad. American,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, Australian, Polish, and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

military operations begin; ground troops move into

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

April

*April 10: Fall of Baghdad:

Coalition forces ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...

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 Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

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 During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Planet X was a US Army mechanized raid conducted on a village near Ad-Dawr in Salah Al-Din province north of Tikrit on the night of 15 May 2003 by elements of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, U.S. 4th Inf ...

, capturing roughly 260 people. *May 23 - L. Paul Bremer issues Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2, 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 The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

are killed by a mob in Majar al-Kabir 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 The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi pol ...

'' is established under the authority of the Coalition Provisional Authority. *July 22: Uday and

Qusay Hussein Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (or Qusai, ar, قصي صدام حسين; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in ...

, Saddam Hussein's sons, are killed in

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

during a raid by

Task Force 20 Task Force 20 is a temporary combat force designation that has been used several times and may still used by separate parts of the United States armed forces. The longer-established iteration was a part of the United States Second Fleet in the A ...

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 The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

headquarters kills the top UN envoy,

Sergio Vieira de Mello Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass * ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film * ''Se ...

, and 21 others. *August 29: Influential

Shiite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim is killed in a

car bombing A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

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's Iraq Survey Group report finds little evidence of WMD in

, 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 United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was an inspection regime created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq's compliance with policies concerning Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf War. Between 1991 and 19 ...

during the inspections that began in 2002. Weapons inspectors in Iraq did find a clandestine "''network of biological

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physici ...

''" and a deadly strain of

botulinum Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum'' and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon endings at the neuromusc ...

. 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 The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

issues Resolution 1511 which envisions a

multinational force A Multinational force is a multinational operation which may be defensive, offensive, or for peacekeeping purposes. In multinational operations, many countries form an alliance to carry them out. Multinational forces include: * Supreme Headquar ...

and preserves Washington's quasi-absolute control of Iraq. *October 27: 27 October 2003 Baghdad bombings, beginning of the Ramadan Offensive.

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 missiles and one crashes near Fallujah 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 freighter belonging to German courier firm 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 Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

visit to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

(the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

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 Condoleezza Rice, and he is flown in to

Baghdad International Airport Baghdad International Airport , previously Saddam International Airport ( ar, مطار بغداد الدولي, Maṭār Baġdād ad-Dawaliyy) is Iraq's largest international airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the ...

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

December

*December 13:

is captured in

Operation Red Dawn Saddam Hussein, the deposed president of Iraq, was captured by the United States military forces in the town of Ad-Dawr, Iraq on 13 December 2003. Codenamed Operation Red Dawn, this military operation was named after the 1984 American film ''Red ...

; it was announced the next day. *December 17: The U.S. 4th Infantry Division launches Operation Ivy Blizzard, lasting from dawn until mid-morning. The operation resulted in the arrest of 12

insurgents An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...

. *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. ...

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: David Kay testifies before the

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Def ...

expressing doubt about the presence of

Iraqi weapons of mass destruction Iraq actively researched and later employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Coun ...

February

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

and Karbala at the climax of the Shi'a festival of Aashurah kill nearly 200, the deadliest attacks up to that time. *March 8: Provisional Iraqi Constitution signed. *March 31:

31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush The 2004 Fallujah Blackwater incident occurred on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgency (Iraq War), Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from the private military company Blackwater USA who were conducting a d ...

: Four Blackwater contractors ambushed and killed in Fallujah, causing a First Battle of Fallujah.

April

*April 4: Beginning of violent clashes between the coalition and followers of

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

cleric

Muqtada al-Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr ( ar, مقتدى الصدر, Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi politician and militia leader. He is the leader of the Sadrist Movement and the leader of the Peace Companies, a successor to the militia he had p ...

, 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 , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, led by newly elected José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

) vows to withdraw its troops. *April 18: Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse; Beginning of the diffusion of images of humiliated Iraqi detainees by US soldiers in Abu Ghraib. *April 26: The

Iraq Interim Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi pol ...

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 The flag of Israel ( he, דגל ישראל '; ar, علم إسرائيل ') was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the establishment of the State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizontal blu ...

, 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 The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...

led by

Prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Iyad Allawi; Ghazi al-Yawer is designed head of the Iraqi state. *June 8: UN Security Council Resolution 1546 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 ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdish English (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay ...

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 The trial of Saddam Hussein was the trial of the deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein by the Iraqi Interim Government for crimes against humanity during his time in office. The Coalition Provisional Authority voted to create the Iraqi Spe ...

: Saddam Hussein appears at his first hearing. *July 20:

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously ...

president of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...

, confirms that hostage Angelo de la Cruz has been freed by his captors after their demands for a one-month-early withdrawal of all 51 Filipino troops from

were met.

August

*August 5–27: Forces loyal to

resist government authority in Najaf; the fighting is ended with

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani ( ar, علي الحسيني السيستاني; fa, , Ali-ye Hoseyni-ye Sistāni; born 4 August 1930), commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is an Iranian–Iraqi Twelver Shia Ayatollah and marja'. He has been describe ...

's help.

September

*September 14: The

Haifa Street helicopter incident The Haifa Street helicopter incident or the Haifa Street massacre was a controversial event in Baghdad, Iraq, on September 12, 2004. The fighting started before dawn on Haifa Street, where insurgents detonated two car bombs and attacked American tro ...

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) The Battle of Samarra, also called Operation Baton Rouge, took place in 2004 during the Iraq War. The city of Samarra in central Iraq had fallen under the control of insurgents shortly after insurgents had seized control of Fallujah and Ramadi. In ...

*17 October:

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 ...

pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda network *Late October: The

Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy The Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy concerns the possible removal by Iraqi insurgency of about 377 tonnes of high explosives, HMX and RDX, after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Although Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said that the Internatio ...

comes to light.

November

*November 7:

Second Battle of Fallujah The Second Battle of Fallujah, codenamed Operation al-Fajr ( ar, الفجر, ) and Operation Phantom Fury, was an American-led offensive of the Iraq War that lasted roughly 6 weeks, starting 7th November, 2004. Marking the highest point of the ...

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

December

*December 21: 2004 Forward Operating Base Marez bombing 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 The National Iraqi Alliance (NIA or INA; ar, الائتلاف الوطني العراقي; transliterated: al-Itilaf al-Watani al-Iraqi), also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the 2010 Iraqi legislative ...

obtained a majority, followed by the Kurdish Alliance; 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 Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

March

*March 4:

Rescue of Giuliana Sgrena The Rescue of Giuliana Sgrena was a covert operation by the Italian military secret service, SISMI, to rescue Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena from kidnappers in Iraq. After the successful retrieval of Sgrena, on 4 March 2005, the car with her ...

: Liberation of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, during which secret Italian agent Nicola Calipari 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 In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

. *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 The Battle of Abu Ghraib was a battle between Iraqi Mujahideen and United States forces at Abu Ghraib prison on April 2, 2005. Mujahideen linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq launched a surprise attack on the American section of Abu Ghraib prison, kno ...

*April 6: Election of Kurdish

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani ( ku, مام جەلال تاڵەبانی, translit=Celal Talebanî; ar, جلال طالباني ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well 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 Ibrahim Abd al-Karim al-Eshaiker ( ar, إبراهيم عبد الكريم الأشيقر; born 25 March 1947), also known as Ibrahim al-Jaafari, is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq in the Iraqi Transitional Government from 200 ...

is nominated as Prime minister of Iraq. *April 28: The Parliament votes its trust towards the new government.

May

*May 8:

Battle of Al Qaim The Battle of Al-Qa'im (code-named Operation Matador) was a military offensive conducted by the United States Marine Corps, against insurgent positions in Iraq's northwestern Anbar province, which ran from 8 May 2005 to 19 May 2005. It was focu ...

, 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 kills nearly 100 Shia.

August

*August 1–4: Battle of Haditha *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 the ...

: Rumors of a suicide bomber lead to a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge; about 1,000 people died.

September

*September 1: Battle of Tal Afar: US troops launch an offensive in

Tal Afar Tal Afar ( ar, تَلْعَفَر, Talʿafar, ) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul, 52 km (32 mi) east of Sinjar 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 Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

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 The Palestine Hotel (Arabic: فندق فلسطين), often referred to simply as ''The Palestine'', is an 18-story hotel in Baghdad, Iraq located on Firdos Square near from Saadon, across from the Ishtar Hotel. It has long been favoured by journ ...

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 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 , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Inbound3292807512093856589نواعير حديثة.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption ...

, after an insurgent attack. *Nov. 25: 2005–2006 Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis 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 Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 15 December 2005, following the approval of a new constitution in a referendum of 15 October. Electoral system The elections took place under a list system, whereby voters chose from a list of parti ...

2006

February

*February 22 The al-Askari Mosque bombing (2006): Shi’ite Al Askari Mosque is bombed by Sunni militants, sparking a sectarian civil war. Shi’ite, Sunni and other militant groups also start advancing within

March

*March 12:

Mahmudiyah killings The Mahmudiyah rape and killings were war crimes involving the gang-rape and murder of 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the murder of her family by United States Army soldiers on March 12, 2006. It occurred in the family' ...

April

*April 24:

Hamdania incident The Hamdania incident refers to the alleged kidnapping and subsequent murder of an Iraqi man by United States Marines on April 26, 2006, in Al Hamdania, a small village west of Baghdad near Abu Ghraib. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Invest ...

. Marines allegedly abduct an Iraqi civilian from a house, kill him, and place components and spent

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

cartridges near his body to make it appear he was planting an IED.

May

*May 20 The new

Iraqi government The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as w ...

, which succeeds to the Iraqi Transitional Government, begins its functions.

June

*June 7 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is killed. *June 14: Operation Together Forward begins. *June 17:

Battle of Ramadi (2006) The Battle of Ramadi was fought during the Iraq War from March 2006 to November 2006, for control of the capital of the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq. A joint US military force under the command 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Div ...

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

, 69, the deposed former

i President, is force-fed in a

hospital through a tube after 16 days of

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

. *July 25

Operation River Falcon Operation River Falcon was a military operation in the Iraq War. From 25 to 27 July 2006, elements of the United States Army 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (including elements of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, and the 1s ...

begins.

August

October

*Oct. 19:

Battle of Amarah The Battle of Amarah took place from October 19 to October 20, 2006, between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi Security Forces, police, who were largely members of the Badr Organization. Background The city of Amarah was said to have been relatively pea ...

. Clashes erupt between the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization. *Oct. 28: The first of the

Chlorine bombings in Iraq Chlorine bombings in Iraq began as early as October 2004, when insurgents in Al Anbar province started using chlorine gas in conjunction with conventional vehicle-borne explosive devices. The inaugural chlorine attacks in Iraq were described as po ...

November

*November 7 - The United States midterm elections removed the Republican Party from control of both chambers of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. 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 Ammar al-Saffar (born 1956) was the Deputy Health Minister of Iraq from 2003 until his kidnapping and likely death in 2006. On November 19, 2006, he became the highest-ranking Iraqi official to be kidnapped when he was seized by men in police unif ...

, Deputy Health Minister, becomes the highest-ranking Iraqi to be kidnapped. * 23 November 2006 Sadr City bombings kill more than 200 Shias in

Sadr City Sadr City ( ar, مدينة الصدر, translit=Madīnat aṣ-Ṣadr), formerly known as Al-Thawra ( ar, الثورة, aṯ-Ṯawra) and Saddam City ( ar, مدينة صدام, Madīnat Ṣaddām), is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. ...

December

*December 6: The

Iraq Study Group The Iraq Study Group (ISG) also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and ...

releases their final report. *December 21: 2006 US raid on Iranian diplomats *December 25: Diyala campaign begins. *Dec. 30:

Execution of Saddam Hussein The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took place on 30 December 2006, (Death’s Angels). Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the ...

2007

January

*January 10: The

Iraq War troop surge of 2007 The Iraq War troop surge of 2007, commonly known as the troop surge, or simply the surge, refers to the George W. Bush administration's 2007 increase in the number of U.S. military combat troops in Iraq in order to provide security to Baghdad an ...

is announced. *January 11:

US raid on Iranian Liaison Office in Arbil On January 11, 2007, the United States Armed Forces, United States military raided the Iran, Iranian Liaison Office (which was in the process of becoming accredited as an officially recognized consulate) in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, ostensibl ...

. *January 20: The Karbala provincial headquarters raid results in the kidnapping and killing of five American soldiers. The US blames Iran. *January 28: Followers of the Shia cult

Soldiers of Heaven The Soldiers of Heaven or ''Jund As-Samāʾ'' ( ar, جند السماء), were an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect who suffered major losses, Filiu, ''Apocalypse in Islam '', 2011: p.161 and their leader Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim killed, in the lat ...

initiate the Battle of Najaf (2007), 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 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, Iraq. Two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests joined the huge crowds surging into the city for a traditional religious festiv ...

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 kill 82 Shias. * Battle of Baqubah.

April

*April 6: Operation Black Eagle. 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 ...

Yazidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...

workers, in revenge for the Stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswad.

May

*The Iraq oil law (2007) is proposed.

June

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

July

*July 12: The Initial Benchmark Assessment Report is released. *July 16: The

2007 Kirkuk bombings The 2007 Kirkuk bombings were a series of 3 suicide and car bomb attacks that occurred on July 16, 2007, in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk. The bombing killed 86 people with up to 180 injured. The first bomb, which caused most of the cas ...

kill 86. *July 17: Truck bomb in Amirli kills 156. *July 26: A Baghdad market is bombed, killing 92.

August

* Operation Phantom Strike begins. *August 14: 2007 Yazidi communities bombings. In the most deadly insurgent strikes to date, four bombings in

Kahtaniya Til Ezer ( ku, تل ئه‌زه‌ر, translit=Tel Ezêr, ar, القحطانية, also known in Arabic as ''al-Qaḥṭānīya'' or ''Qahtaniyah'', also spelled ''Giruzer, Kar Izir, Kahtaniya'') is a village located in the Sinjar District of the ...

and Jazeera, in northern Iraq, strike Yazidi communities, killing 796 people and injuring more than 1,500.

September

*The Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad killed 17 Iraqi civilians.

2008

January

*January 8:

Operation Phantom Phoenix Operation Phantom Phoenix was a major nationwide offensive launched by the Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) on 8 January 2008 in an attempt to build on the success of the two previous corps-level operations, Operation Phantom Thunder and Operati ...

begins. *January 18: 2008 Iraqi Day of Ashura fighting. *January 23: Ninawa campaign begins.

February

* Bombings in Baghdad kill 98. *February 21: 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

launches an offensive in northern Iraq against

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

rebels.

March

*March 23: Iraq spring fighting of 2008. *March 25: Battle of Basra (2008).

July

*July 29: Operation Augurs of Prosperity launched.

October

*Oct. 26: 2008 Abu Kamal raid into Syria.

November

* 2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul *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 On May 11, 2009, five United States military personnel were fatally shot at a military counseling clinic at Camp Liberty, Iraq by Army Sergeant John M. Russell. In the days before the killings, witnesses stated Russell had become distant and was ha ...

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

July 25

* 2009 Iraqi Kurdistan legislative election

August

* 19 August 2009 Baghdad bombings kill 101.

October

* 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kill 155.

December

* 8 December 2009 Baghdad bombings 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 The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI; ar, دولة العراق الإسلامية '), commonly referred to as al-Qaeda in Iraq ( ar, القاعدة في العراق '), is a militant Salafist jihadist group that aimed to establish an Islamic stat ...

leaders Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi are killed in a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation near

Tikrit Tikrit ( ar, تِكْرِيت ''Tikrīt'' , Syriac: ܬܲܓܪܝܼܬܼ ''Tagrīṯ'') is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. , it h ...

August

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

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

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

References

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