This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. For more of Iraq predecessor states, see List of conflicts in Iraq.
Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Results Iraqi losses Head of State Prime Minister Military Civilians Mesopotamian Campaign(1914–1918; World War I)
Al-Muntafiq Union Kurdish tribes Arab tribes
Jam'iya al-Nahda al-Islamiya
Kuwait Assyrian volunteers Allied victory Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire ~89,500 ~35,500 Mehmed VI (Ottoman rule) Ahmet Tevfik Pasha (Ottoman rule) Mahmud Barzanji Revolts (1919–1924) Mandatory Iraq RAF Iraq Command Assyrian levies Kurdish state Barzinja tenantry and tribesmen Hamavand tribe Sections of the Jaf, Jabbari, Sheykh Bizayni and Shuan tribes
Kingdom of Kurdistan Kurdish National Army British-Assyrian victory Kingdom of Kurdistan abolished in 1924 Sheykh Mahmud retreats to underground Iraqi Kurdistan merged into Mandatory Iraq (1926) Kingdom of Kurdistan reconquered by the British ? ? Before 1920: Sir Percy Cox
(British High Commissioner)
After 1920: King Faisal I Before 1920: Sir Percy Cox
(British High Commissioner)
After 1920: Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani Iraqi War of Independence(1920) Iraqi rebels Al-ʽAhd Haras Al-Istiqlal Arab tribesmen Kurdish tribesmen United Kingdom Iraq Levies British victory Anglo-Iraqi treaty Creation of Kingdom of Iraq under British AdministrationSee original documents here 6,000–10,000 2,050–4,000 None Ikhwan revolt (1927–1930) House of Saud Allied Arab clans
Kuwait
Allied Arab clans Otaibah Mutayr Ajman Allied victory 2,000 killed in total Faisal I of Iraq Faisal bin Sultan Yazidi Revolt (1935) Kingdom of Iraq Yazidi tribes Revolts suppressed Sinjar mountains put under military control ? ? Ghazi of Iraq Ali Jawdat al-Ayyubi Iraqi Shia Revolts(1935–1936) Kingdom of Iraq Iraqi Shia tribesmenIkha Party Revolts suppressed ~500 Iraqi Coup D'état(1941) Iraq Golden Square Golden Square victory Overthrow of government of 'Abd al-Ilah Formation of National Defence Government British intervention in Iraq ? Faisal II of Iraq Taha al-Hashimi Anglo-Iraqi War(1941 WWII) (Golden Square)Military support:
Assyrian levies
Air and naval support: Greece Allied victory Rebellion suppressed ~500 ? Sherif Sharaf Rashid Ali al-Gaylani Barzani Revolt(1943–1945) Kingdom of Iraq Barzani tribesmenAllied Kurdish tribes Iraqi victory Revolt suppressed ? Faisal II of Iraq Nuri al-Said Al-Wathbah Uprising (1948) Iraqi Police Student Cooperation Committee (communists)Progressive Democrats PopulistsKurdish DemocratsStudent wings of the National Democratic Party and the Independence Party Victory Restoration of order More demonstrations in spring 1948 300–400 Mohammad Hassan al-Sadr First Arab–Israeli War(1948–1949)
All-Palestine Protectorate Holy War Army
Syria
Gelber, pp. 55, 200, 239 Irregulars: Arab Liberation Army Al-Najjada Holy War Army Before 26 May 1948: Yishuv Paramilitary groups: Haganah Palmach Hish Him Irgun Lehi Allied Bedouin tribesPalestine Post, "Israel's Bedouin Warriors", Gene Dison, August 12, 1948After 26 May 1948: Israel Defense Forces Minorities Unit Foreign volunteers: Mahal Defeat Arab League invasion of former Mandatory Palestine repelled 1949 Armistice Agreements Establishment of the State of Israel, Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, Egyptian occupation of the Gaza Strip 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight Beginning of the Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency ? None Muzahim al-Pachachi 14 July Revolution(1958) Arab Federation
Royal Guard Supported by: Free Officers 19th Brigade 20th Brigade Free Officers Victory Overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy Death of King Faisal II and his family Execution of Prince Abd al-Ilah Execution of Prime Minister Nuri al-Said End of the Hashemite dynasty in Iraq End of the Arab Federation Establishment of the Iraqi Republic ~100 Nuri al-Said Mosul Uprising(1959) Iraqi Government Arab nationalists Supported by: Attempted coup fails Iraq remains outside of the UAR Degradation in Iraq-UAR relations Iraqi Communists increase in power Iraqi Ba'athists begin to increase in strength 2,426 Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i Abd al-Karim Qasim First Iraqi–Kurdish War(1961–1970) Before 1968: Iraq Syria (1963)Supported by: (from 1963)After 1968: Ba'athist Iraq KDPYazidisAssyriansSupported by: Iran: "As the IPC moved in opposition to Qasim, Israeli and Iranian covert assistance began to pour into Iraqi Kurdistan... Kurdish representatives reached out to the US embassy for the same... Available documentation does not prove conclusively that the United States provided covert assistance to the Kurds in the fall of 1962, but the documents that have been declassified are certainly suggestive—especially in light of the general US policy orientation toward Iraq during this period." (alleged) Military stalemate: "Due to Qasim's distrust of the Iraqi army, he refused to properly arm it, leading to a military stalemate with the Kurds." Several Iraqi offensives intended to suppress the Kurdish rebellion fail Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement Arabization program continued Second Iraqi–Kurdish War in 1974 ~10,000 ? Ramadan Revolution(1963) Iraqi Government Iraqi Communist Party Iraqi Ba'ath Party Supported by: Iraqi Ba'athist victory Overthrow of Abd al-Karim Qasim Establishment of Ba'athist government 100 Ar-Rashid Revolt (1963) Iraqi Government Ba'ath Party Ba'ath National Guard Militia Iraqi Communist Party Iraqi Army Coup attempt defeated Revolt suppressed 1+ Abdul Salam Arif Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr November coup d'état (1963) Ba'athists Nasserists Nasserist victory Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government * Establishment of pro-Nasserist government Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr became Vice President of Iraq 250 Six-Day War(1967) Iraq Defeat Israel occupies a total of of territory: The Golan Heights from Syria The West Bank including East Jerusalem from Jordan The Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt 10 None Abdul Rahman Arif Abdul Rahman Arif 17 July Revolution(1968) Iraqi Government Iraqi Ba'ath Party Iraqi Armed Forces Supported by: (alleged) Ba’ath victory Overthrow of Abdul Rahman Arif and Tahir Yahya Establishment of Ba'athist Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Yom Kippur War(1973) DefeatReferences: Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company, 1975. Forward Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, Yom Kippur War, Doubleday and Company, 1974, page 450 Luttwak and Horowitz, The Israeli Army. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Abt Books, 1983 Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, Schocken Books, 2004. Page 498 Revisiting The Yom Kippur War, P. R. Kumaraswamy, pages 1–2 Johnson and Tierney, Failing To Win, Perception of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Page 177 Charles Liebman, "The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur war in Israeli Society" Middle Eastern Studies, Vol 29, No. 3, July 1993. Published by Frank Cass, London. Page 411. Invasion of Israeli-held territories repelled Agreement on Disengagement and Egypt–Israel peace treaty 278 None Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Second Iraqi–Kurdish War(1974–1975) IraqSupported by: KDPYazidisÇoğalan, Aydın (2017). Yezidis in Syria: Identity Building and the Struggle for Recognition. Lexington Books. p. 100. Google Books IranSupported by: Iraqi victory KDP military and strategic failure Peshmerga fighting ability destroyed KDP–Iraq cease-fire Failed PUK low-level insurgency Iran withdrew its support for KDP 1975 Algiers Agreement Iraqi government reinstates full control over Kurdish-majority territories 7,000 ? Arvand Conflict(1974–1975) Iraq Iran KDP Iranian victory 1975 Algiers Agreement Iraq cedes half of the Arvand River to Iran Iran cedes territory around Zain al Qaws and Saif Saad to Iraq Iraqi federal government reinstates full control over Kurdish-majority territories Tensions between Iran and Iraq escalate into a full-scale war in 1980 Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein Iran–Iraq War(1980–1988)
DRFLA MEK NCRI PKDI: "Throughout much of the 1980s, the KDPI received aid from the Ba'thi regime of Saddam Hussein, but Ghassemlou broke with Baghdad in 1988 after Iraq used chemical weapons against Kurds in Halabja and then forced Kurdish villagers to..."Salvation ForceArab volunteers
KDP PUK ISCI Islamic Dawa Party Shia volunteers Inconclusive Status quo ante bellum 105,000375,000 ~100,000 Invasion of Kuwait (1990) Iraqi Republic Iraqi victory UNSC Resolution 660 condemns invasion on 2 August UNSC Resolution 661 imposes international sanctions against Iraq and declares Kuwait's right to self-defence on 6 August UNSC Resolution 662 designates Iraqi occupation/annexation of Kuwait as illegal on 9 August UNSC Resolution 665 authorizes naval blockade against Iraq on 25 August Iraq establishes the "Republic of Kuwait" on 2 August and annexes it on 28 August Northern Kuwait becomes the Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District within Iraq's Basra Governorate Southern Kuwait becomes Iraq's Kuwait Governorate 295+ None Gulf War (1990–1991) Coalition victory State of Kuwait resumes self-governance over all Kuwaiti sovereign territory Establishment of a demilitarized zone and construction of a separation barrier along the Iraq–Kuwait border 20,000–35,000 3,664 1991 Iraqi uprisings(1991) Ba'ath Party Iraqi Army Republican Guard Special Republican Guard Popular Army General Security Intelligence Service Special Security
Support: MEK Shia and leftist elements of opposition: SCIRI/Badr Brigades Dawa Communist Party Pro-Syrian Ba'athists Army deserters/defectorsDiplomatic Support:Military Support Iraqi government military victory (Southern Front) Imposition of the Iraqi no-fly zones by United States, United Kingdom and France ~5,000 80,000–230,000 Kurdish rebels: Peshmerga: KDP PUK IMK CPK Jash deserters/defectors PDKI
Diplomatic Support:Military Support Government Military Victory (Northern Front) Establishment of Kurdistan Region, facilitated by the imposition of the Iraqi no-fly zones by United States, United Kingdom and France Iraqi Kurdish Civil War(1995–1996) KDPSupported by: Iraq (from 1995) (from 1997) (before 1995) PUK PKK SCIRIKCPIraqi National CongressSupported by: (from 1995) Syria (1996) Washington Agreement PKK moved to Qandil mountains from Bekaa Valley ? Bombing of Iraq(1998) United States United States Armed Forces
Coalition military successPolitically inconclusive Much of Iraqi military infrastructure destroyed Iraq bars weapon inspectors from returning Iraq begins shooting at British and American planes in the Iraqi no-fly zones 1,400Rossiter, Mike, Target Basra, Corgi, 2009 , p. 210(KIA or WIA) ? Second Sadr Uprising(1999) Iraqi Armed Forces Republican Guard Fedayeen Saddam Ba'ath Party Rebels: SCIRI / Badr DawaAmnesty International, Iraq: Victims of Systematic Repression, 24 November 1999, MDE 14/010/1999 Iraqi government victory Uprising suppressed 40+ 200+ Iraq War(2003–2011) Invasion (2003) Republic of Iraq MEK Invasion (2003)Coalition of the willing Kurdistan Region Defeat (Phase 1) Overthrow of Ba'ath Party-led regime (and execution of Saddam Hussein in 2006) 7,600–10,800 151,000–1,033,000+ After invasion (2003–11) MNF–I (2003–09) Awakening Council After invasion (2003–11) Al-Qaeda in Iraq Islamic Army in Iraq Islamic State of Iraq Mahdi Army Naqshbandi Army Hamas of Iraq Jaysh al-Mujahideen 1920 Revolution Brigades Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna Government victory (Phase 2) Re-establishment of democratic elections U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement Escalation of sectarian insurgency (leading to the rise of ISIL and re-escalation of war beginning in 2013) 17,690 Jalal Talabani Nouri al-Maliki War in Iraq (2013–17)
Iraqi Armed Forces Iraqi Ground Forces Iraqi Air Force CTS-ISOF Popular Mobilization Forces Assyrian Forces (Iraqi command) Federal Police
Kurdistan Region Peshmerga