Islamic State And Pro-Iran Groups Pick Up Operations In Iraq In May 2024

May saw a relatively high level of activity by the Islamic State and the Islamic Resistance In Iraq.

 

The Islamic State was involved in 7 security incidents during May. The month before there were only 2. However in March there were 12, but then 1 in February and 13 to start the year off in January.

 

The insurgents were involved in violence across four provinces. In Anbar there was a government ambush that led to a gun battle. There was a double bombing by a checkpoint in Diyala. Another checkpoint was attacked in Kirkuk. Finally a third checkpoint was assaulted and there were 3 separate IEDs in Salahaddin.

 

What stood out about these incidents was the high number of casualties they caused. 18 people were killed made up of 2 Hashd al-Shaabi, 6 civilians and 10 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). Another 22 were injured consisting of 1 civilian, 1 Hashd and 20 ISF. There had not been that many people killed and wounded since the middle of December 2022.

 

Despite those numbers the Islamic State remains irrelevant in Iraq. It has no impact upon Iraq overall and these incidents were all in isolated parts of the country.

 

Pro-Iran groups set a four month high for attacks during the month. There were a total of 20 claims of drone and cruise missile attacks upon Israel. In April there were only 7 incidents by these factions, 6 in March and 1 in February. Before that there were over 20 incidents per month for three months. The drop at the start of the year was caused by a ceasefire with the United States in Iraq. Since then the Iraqi Islamic Resistance has been focusing upon Israel more and more until reaching May’s figure.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14	May 15-21	May 22-28	May 29-31	Totals
Anbar	-	-	-	1		1
Diyala	-	-	-	1		1
Israel	3 Pro-Iran	5 Pro-Iran	9 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	20 Pro-Iran
Kirkuk	-	-	1	-		1
Salahaddin	-	1	1	2		4
TOTAL	3 Pro-Iran	6/5 Pro-Iran	11/9 Pro-Iran	6/2 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	27/20 Pro-Iran

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14	May 15-21	May 22-28	May 29-31	Totals
Anbar	-	-	-	2 (1K, 1W)	-	2 (1K, 1W)
Diyala	-	-	-	9 (2K, 7W)	-	9 (2K, 7W)
Kirkuk	-	-	3 (1K, 2W)	-	-	3 (1K, 2W)
Salahaddin	-	10 (5K, 5W)	4 (4W)	12 (8K, 4W)	-	26 (14K, 12W)
TOTAL	-	10 (5K, 5W)	7 (1K, 6W)	23 (11K, 12W)	-	40 (18K, 22W)

 

Security In Iraq 2022-23

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
JAN 2022	87/41 Pro-Iran	33	59
FEB	42/14 Pro-Iran	10	29
MAR	46/12/1 Pro-Iran	19	21
APR	111/22 Pro-Iran	34	103
MAY	73/13 Pro-Iran	41	51
JUN	40/14 Pro-Iran	7	33
JUL	43/6 Pro-Iran	33	54
AUG	57/7/1 Pro-Iran	24	54
SEP	41/1/3 M	9	64
OCT	28/2/3 M	17	45
NOV	23	10	28
DEC	33/1 Pro-Iran	42	38
JAN 2023	29/4 Pro-Iran	12	15
Feb 1-7	6/2 Pro-Iran	1	5
Feb 8-14	1	-	2
Feb 15-21	4	4	8
Feb 22-28	9/1 Pro-Iran	7	3
FEB	20/3 Pro-Iran	12	18
Mar 1-7	3	10	4
Mar 8-14	2	2	1
Mar 15-21	2	1	3
Mar 22-28	1	2	-
Mar 29-31	1	3	-
MAR	9	18	8
Apr 1-7	5	1	7
Apr 8-14	4	-	1
Apr 15-21	5	3	-
Apr 22-28	2	1	-
Apr 29-30	1	1	-
APR	16	6	8
May 1-7	2	1	1
May 8-14	6	4	3
May 15-21	3	2	6
May 22-28	3	1	3
May 29-31	2	-	3
MAY	15	8	14
Jun 1-7	-	-	-
Jun 8-14	4	7	4
Jun 15-21	2	1	2
Jun 22-28	4	2	4
Jun 29-30	-	-	-
JUN	10	10	10
Jul 1-7	1	-	-
Jul 8-14	3	2	1
Jul 15-21	2	-	1
Jul 22-28	2	-	2
Jul 29-31	3/2 Pro-Iran	-	-
JUL	11/2 Pro-Iran	2	4
Aug 1-7	4	-	4
Aug 8-14	2	1	3
Aug 15-21	2	-	5
Aug 22-28	2	-	2
Aug 29-31	3/1 Pro-Iran	1	9
AUG	13/1 Pro-Iran	2	23
Sep 1-7	1	-	1
Sep 8-14	1	1	-
Sep 15-21	2	-	4
Sep 22-28	1	1	1
Sep 29-30	-	-	-
SEP	5	2	6
Oct 1-7	-	-	-
Oct 8-14	-	-	-
Oct 15-21	7 Pro-Iran	-	-
Oct 22-28	7/5 Pro-Iran	-	8
Oct 29-31	3 Pro-Iran	-	-
OCT	17/15 Pro-Iran	-	8
Nov 1-7	11/9	4	2
Nov 8-14	12/10	-	3
Nov 15-21	6 Pro-Iran	-	8 Amer
Nov 22-28	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 29-30	2	11	16
NOV	35/29 Pro-Iran	15	29
Dec 1-7	10/8 Pro-Iran	1	9
Dec 8-14	8/6 Pro-Iran	-	2
Dec 15-21	6/2 Pro-Iran	1	2
Dec 22-28	7/6 Pro-Iran	-	3 US
Dec 29-31	4 Pro-Iran
DEC	35/26 Pro-Iran	2K	16W
Jan 1-7	10/6 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian	5	9
Jan 8-14	7/3 Pro-Iran	3	3
Jan 15-21	10/6 Pro-Iran	6	6
Jan 22-28	11/10 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jan 29-31	3 Pro-Ira	-	-
JAN	42/28 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian	14	20
Feb 1-7	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Feb 8-14	-	-	-
Feb 15-21	-	-	-
Feb 22-29	1	-	-
FEB	2/1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Mar 1-7	4/2 Pro-Iran	1	4
Mar 8-14	8/1 Pro-Iran	4	8
Mar 15-21	2	-	2
Mar 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Mar 29-31	2/1Pro-iran	1	1
MAR	18/6 Pro-Iran	6	15
Apr 1-7	3/2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Apr 8-14	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Apr 15-21	3 Pro-Iran	-	-
Apr 22-28	1 Pro-Iran	4	-
Apr 29-30	1	2	-
APR	9/7 Pro-Iran	6	-
May 1-7	3 Pro-Iran	-	-
May 8-14	6/5 Pro-Iran	5	5
May 15-21	11/9 Pro-Iran	1	6
May 22-28	6/2 Pro-Iran	11	12
May 29-31	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
MAY	27/20 Pro-Iran	18	22

 

SOURCES

 

Bas News, "Three Iraqi Soldiers Killed, Injured in Fresh IS Attack in Kirkuk," 5/15/24

 

Shafaq News, "A double explosion kills two members of the Awakening and wounds 5 members of the army in Diyala," 5/26/24

- "Two terrorists were killed, one of them a suicide bomber, a securit personnel was killed, and another was injured in Anbar," 5/22/24