Security In Iraq Jul 1-7, 2020

Violence in Iraq has reached a nadir after the Islamic State’s annual Spring offensive. For the fifth week incidents have been in the teens or lower.

The first week of July there were 12 security incidents reported in the media. Two of those were by pro-Iran groups as rockets were fired at the Green Zone and other missiles were discovered aimed at Camp Taji both in Baghdad. That left 10 carried out by the Islamic State. That compared to 9 the last full week of June, 13 the week before that, 12 the second week of June, and 17 the first week. After major operations by the insurgents there have been similar big drops in attacks.

Incidents were spread across Babil, Krikuk and Ninewa with 1 each, 2 in Baghdad and Salahaddin each, and 5 in Diyala.

There were 3 deaths and 9 wounded during the week. 3 Hashd al-Shaabi lost their lives and 9 civilians were wounded. Ninewa and Salahaddin had 2 casualties each and 8 were recorded in Diyala.

The government continues to try to disrupt the Islamic State’s smuggling operations in Anbar. There were sweeps through the Baghdadi desert and Horan Valley during the week. That followed 10 similar actions in June. IS is using Anbar as a way station to move in men and material from Syria after it lost its last piece of territory there.

A senior official from the Defense Ministry had his house shot up in Babil’s Hillah. It’s rare for any incidents in the province to happen outside of the Jurf al-Sakhr district in the northeast, which is a large Kataib Hezbollah base and the favorite target of the militants when they strike in Babil. Still, if they do happen in other areas its usually in Hillah or Iskandiriya.

July 2 government forces began clearing the Tarmiya district in northern Baghdad. This has been an insurgent base for years. Even though IS has moved away from trying to infiltrate into the capital it still has many cells in this area.

Diyala remained the most violent part of Iraq. There were five incidents there. That included one gun battle, a farmer being wounded from sniper fire, another wounded by an IED, and two towns being hit by mortars that wounded five. One of these incidents occurred in Khanaqin in the northeast, and two in Muqdadiya in the center which are the main places where IS operates. Two others occurred in Edheim in the north and Buhriz in the south. The government conducted twelve sweeps in the governorate last month many of which went through IS’s core areas. That could have led to the incidents in the north and south as the militants looked for other places to attack.

IS kidnapped a farmer in Kirkuk. That could have been for ransom or to drive out the locals or both.

Two civilians were wounded by an IED in the Tal Afar district in western Ninewa. This might have been an old device as IS rarely carries out attacks in that part of the province. Government forces also went through an area south of Mosul, which is where most incidents take place. Like Anbar, Ninewa is mostly used for bringing in men from Syria.

There were two incidents in Salahaddin. 2 Hashd were killed by an IED in the Baiji district in the east and there was a shootout with the Hashd in the Balad district in the south. Since spring the Islamic State has focused upon attacking the security forces in rural areas. These were two more examples of that.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7
Babil	1
Baghdad	2 Pro-Iran
Diyala	5
Kirkuk	1
Ninewa	1
Salahaddin	2
TOTAL	12/2

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7
Diyala	8 (1K, 7W)
Ninewa	2 (2W)
Salahaddin	2 (2K)
TOTAL	12 (3K, 9W)

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-20

Diyala	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	219	198	47	43	5	13	25	3	1
2019 Totals	185	112	33	63	2	6	29	2	-
Jan 2020	13	6	-	2	-	1	-	-	-
Feb	16	5	2	8	-	1	-	-	-
Mar	15	10	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	20	17	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
May	38	18	8	9	1	5	17	-	-
Jun	13	1	-	2	-	1	2	-	-
Jul	2	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	172	182	39	18	10	14	29	9	6
2019 Totals	77	116	24	19	6	8	18	-	1
Jan 2020	10	1	2	2	-	1	-	-	-
Feb	5	-	2	1	-	2	1	-	-
Mar	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	17	7	6	3	-	2	1	1	-
May	15	10	1	7	1	4	10	-	-
Jun	2	2	-	-	-	1	3	-	-

Ninewa	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	139	74	43	7	5	6	6	2	3
2019 Totals	63	49	14	3	9	6	17	-	3
Jan 2020	7	5	2	1	-	1	-	-	-
Feb	5	5	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
Mar	2	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	8	8	1	4	-	1	1	-	-
May	5	9	-	2	-	-	2	-	-
Jun	-	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Salahaddin	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	110	102	41	18	1	16	4	9	5
2019 Totals	60	54	32	5	2	6	8	2	6
Jan 2020	4	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	5	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
Mar	5	2	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	4	3	3	-	-	1	-	-	-
May	21	6	9	5	-	2	2	-	-
Jun	5	4	1	2	-	-	1	-	-
Jul	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-

           

Security In Iraq 2019-20

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	32	17/10	24
Jan 8-14	32	94/31	53
Jan 15-21	22	17/11	16/14
Jan 22-28	27	36/17	31
Jan 29-31	12	7	6
JAN 2019	114	139	130/128
Feb 1-7	29/1	76/16	30
Feb 8-14	24	26	18
Feb 15-21	40	112/37	12
Feb 22-28	25	36	70
FEB	118/1	250/115	130
Mar 1-7	13	22	45
Mar 8-14	19	75/10	37
Mar 15-21	12	66/37	21/11
Mar 22-28	13	8/5	1
Mar 29-31	6	8	7
MAR	61	147	101
Apr 1-7	20	22	13
Apr 8-14	41	28	42
Apr 15-21	17	9/8	26
Apr 22-28	19	45	15
Apr 29-30	2	1	4
APR	99	105	100
May 1-7	20	15	18
May 8-14	24	31	41
May 15-21	37/1	62/25	39
May 22-28	43	39	54
May 29-31	13	16	48
MAY	137/1	163/125	200
Jun 1-7	26	19	44
Jun 8-14	25/1	29	15
Jun 15-21	21/2	6	13/10
Jun 22-28	18	17	41
Jun 29-30	9	3	9
JUN	99/3	74	122/119
Jul 1-7	20	11	39
Jul 8-14	14	31	10
Jul 15-21	17	14	37
Jul 22-28	23	14	20
Jul 29-31	8	13	13
JUL	82	83	119
Aug 1-7	27	14	31
Aug 8-14	18	13	13
Aug 15-21	20	33	15
Aug 22-28	27	24	72
Aug 29-31	11	19	10
AUG	104	103	141
Sep 1-7	39	39	38
Sep 8-14	30	35	43
Sep 15-21	23	27	26
Sep 22-28	24/1	15	20
Sep 29-30	7	6	4
SEP	123/1	122	131
Oct 1-7	3	1	2
Oct 8-14	14	25	17
Oct 15-21	19	29	13
Oct 22-28	22/1	33	10
Oct 29-31	12/1	4	11
OCT	70/2	92	53
Nov 1-7	6/1	4	1
Nov 8-14	9/1	2	25
Nov 15-21	15/1	11	2
Nov 22-28	17/1	24	33
Nov 29-30	8/1	6	37
NOV	55/5	47	98
Dec 1-7	36/3	33	44
Dec 8-14	19/3	19	19
Dec 15-21	26	44	25
Dec 22-28	30/1	30	38
Dec 29-31	9	8	7
DEC	120/7	134	133
Jan 1-7	25/7	16	84
Jan 8-14	24/3	12	34
Jan 15-21	23/2	11	12
Jan 22-28	11/1	10	8
Jan 29-31	8/1	4	1
JAN 2020	91/12	53	139
Feb 1-7	22	13	11
Feb 8-14	18/1	5	38
Feb 15-21	16/2	42	18
Feb 22-28	25	15	34
Feb 29	4	5	2
FEB	85/3	80	103
Mar 1-7	17/3	11	17
Mar 8-14	15/2	13	33
Mar 15-21	14/2	5	19
Mar 22-28	14/1	13	11
Mar 29-31	9	5	10
MAR	69/8	47	90
Ap 1-7	27/1	27	37
Apr 8-14	24	25	51
Apr 15-21	33/1	19	34
Apr 22-28	22	8	40
Apr 29-30	5	2	4
APR	111/2	81	165
May 1-7	44/1	47	36
May 8-14	49	21	47
May 15-21	66/1	45	64
May 22-28	30	9	21
May 29-31	7	3	12
MAY	196/2	125	180
Jun 1-7	17	13	19
Jun 8-14	16/4	10	15
Jun 15-21	16/3	11	19
Jun 22-28	10/1	8	13
Jun 29-30	1	4	2
JUN	60/8	46	68
Jul 1-7	12/2	3	9

Violence By Province Jul 1-7, 2020

Province	Violence
Babil	1 Incident 1 Shooting
Baghdad	0/2 Pro-Iran 2 Rockets
Diyala	5 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Hashd 7 Wounded 7 Civilians 2 Shootings 1 IED 2 Mortars
Kirkuk	1 Incident
Ninewa	1 Incident 2 Wounded 2 Civilians 1 IED
Salahaddin	2 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Hashd 1 IED

SOURCES

Bas News, "IS Jihadists Kidnap Kurdish Farmer in Disputed Town of Prde," 7/7/20

Kullab, Samya, "Rocket fired toward US Embassy in Iraq injures child," 7/5/20

Al Maalomah, "The Hashd and army carry out a preemptive operation in Al-Bahgdadi Desert, Al-Anbar Governorate," 7/3/20

NINA, "3 Mortar Shells Hit A Village In A Liberated Area Northeast Of Baquba, Diyala Governorate," 7/5/20

- "A farmer was injured in an explosive device explosion, northeast of Baquba," 7/1/20

- "A farmer was wounded by ISIS fire on the border between Diyala and Salah al-Din," 7/5/20

- "Four civilians were injured in a mortar attack on a village of South Baquba," 7/7/20

- "A House Of A Senior Officer In The MoD In Hilla Attacked By Unknown Gunmen," 7/1/20

- "Al-Jazeera Operations Command carries out a search and inspection operation southwest of the Houran Valley," 7/4/20

- "PMF Carries Out A Raid And Search Operation In Several Areas Bordering Anbar," 7/2/20- "The popular crowd repulsed to the attack of "ISIS" at Balad district, south of Samarra," 7/2/20

- "Two civilians wounded by an explosive device, west of Mosul," 7/4/20

- "Two Intelligence Officers from the popular crowd were killed in an explosive device explosion in Salah al-Din," 7/2/20

Al Sumaria, "An associate in the crowd was killed by repelling an armed attack in Muqdadiya," 7/6/20

- "Five civilians were injured as a result of 10 mortar shells landing on a village in Buhriz," 7/7/20

Tarmiya, Oweis, Khaled Yacoub, "Iraqi military moves against ISIS north of Baghdad," The National, 7/2/20