ISIL overrunning northern Iraq
The 2014 Northern Iraq offensive began in mid-June 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS; sometimes referred to as ISIL) and aligned forces began a major offensive in northern Iraq against the Iraqi government, following earlier clashes, which began in December 2013.
ISIS and aligned forces captured several cities and other territory, beginning with an attack on Samarra on 5 June followed by the seizure of Mosul on the night of 9 June and Tikrit on 11 June. As Iraqi government forces fled south on 13 June, the Kurdish forces took control of the oil hub of Kirkuk, part of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq.
By late June, Iraq had lost control of its border with Jordan and Syria. Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki called for a national state of emergency on 10 June following the attack on Mosul, which had been seized overnight. However, despite the security crisis, Iraq’s parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many Sunni Arab and ethnic Kurdish legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister’s powers.
Since December 2013, clashes involving tribal militias, Iraqi security forces, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have been occurring throughout western Iraq. In early January 2014, ISIS militia successfully took control of Fallujah and Ramadi, bringing much of Anbar Province under their control. Afterwards, the Iraqi Army began conducting an offensive against the Anbar region, the stronghold of ISIS, with the stated goal of bringing the region under government control. Prior to conducting this counter offensive, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave a controversial speech in which he charactized the military campaign as a continuation of the ancient sectarian war between “the followers of Hussein and the followers of Yazid”, a reference to a 7th-century defining battle for Shi’ites, thereby alienating the Sunnis of Anbar who had prior collaborated with the Iraqi government.
The advances ISIS have made in neighboring Syria, a source of their weapons, have substantially strengthened their position. In early June, insurgents began to advance up over to central and northern part of Iraqi land following the Iraqi Army’s capture in the Anbar industrial zone. At that point, they were still in control of most of Fallujah and Garmah, as well as parts of Haditha, Jurf Al Sakhar, Anah,Abu Ghraib and several smaller settlements in Anbar Province.
On the 29th of June 2014, the ISIL changed their name to Islamic State, and declared a ‘Caliphate’, which includes Syria and Iraq. They then declared Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph and leader of all Muslims.
