Islamic State Active In Iraq In Feb 2025 After 3 Month Hiatus

After being dormant for three months the Islamic State was back to carrying out attacks in Iraq in February 2025. The Iraqi Resistance launched one operation during the month as well.

 

There were a total 6 security incidents in Iraq in February.

 

At the start of the month there was a drone strike on the Khor Mor natural gas field in Sulaymaniya. This was likely done by the Iraqi Islamic Resistance out of frustration. The Resistance stopped attacks upon Israel in November after months of negotiations with Iran and the Sudani government. Since then there have been talks about disbanding the organization or integrating it into the security forces even though it already is because of pressure from the Trump administration that is targeting Iraq for its ties to Tehran. The pro-Iran groups are opposed to these discussions and the strike on Khor Mor was probably an expression of that.

 

The Islamic State carried out 4 attacks during the month. In Anbar a sticky bomb wounded a Tribal Hashd commander and one of his fighters in Qaim in the eastern section of the province. Two IEDs exploded in Kirkuk. A group of IS fighters approached some shepherds in Tuz Kharmato in eastern Salahaddin and began shooting at them. Local security forces arrived to rescue them. An old IED also went off in the governorate that killed 1 civilian and wounded 3 others.

 

The insurgents have not been active in the country since November. There were incidents in the following months but those were the results of security sweeps coming across IS fighters or old ordinance exploding.

 

It’s too soon to tell the cause of the new activity. Perhaps the group was assessing the situation in Syria and has now decided to carry out operations again. It might have shifted men from that country to Iraq giving it new manpower for attacks.

 

Overall, there has been no real change so far. In 2025 there has been an average of 4.5 incidents per month by IS which is almost the same as the 4.6 seen in the last six months of 2024. That’s also down from 6.0 incidents per month in the first half of 2024.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Feb 1-7	Feb 8-14	Feb 15-21	Feb 22-28	Totals
Anbar	-	1	-	-	1
Kirkuk	-	1	-	1	2
Salahaddin	-	1	1	-	2
Sulaymaniya	1 Pro-Iran		-	-	1 Pro-Iran
Totals	1 Pro-Iran	3	1	1	6/1 Pro-Iran

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Feb 1-7	Feb 8-14	Feb 15-21	Feb 22-28	Totals
Anbar	-	2 (2 W)	-	-	2 (2W)
Kirkuk	-	1 (1W)	-	1 (1W)	2 (2W)
Salahaddin	-	4 (1K, 3W)	-	-	4 (1K, 3W)
Totals	-	7 (1K, 6W)	-	1 (1W)	8 (1K, 7W)

 

Security In Iraq 2022-23

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
JAN 2023	29/4 Pro-Iran	12	15
FEB	20/3 Pro-Iran	12	18
MAR	9	18	8
APR	16	6	8
MAY	15	8	14
JUN	10	10	10
JUL	11/2 Pro-Iran	2	4
AUG	13/1 Pro-Iran	2	23
SEP	5	2	6
OCT	17/15 Pro-Iran	-	8
NOV	35/29 Pro-Iran	15	29 (8 Amer)
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 2024	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
Jun 1-7	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 8-14	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 15-21	2/1 Pro-Iran	1	-
Jun 22-28	5 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 29-31	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
JUN	14/13 Pro-Iran	1	-
Jul 1-7	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 8-14	4	10	4
Jul 15-21	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jan 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 29-31	-	-	-
JUL	12/8 Pro-Iran	10	4
Aug 1-7	3/2Pro-Iran	-	10 (5 Amer)
Aug 8-14	2	2	-
Aug 15-21	2/1 Pro-Iran	-	2
Aug 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Aug 29-31	4/1 Pro-Iran	4	8 (7 Amer)
AUG	13/6 Pro-Iran	6	20 (14 Amer)
Sep 1-7	3/1 Pro-Iran	5	4
Sep 8-14	3/1 Pro-Iran	4	5
Sep 15-21	5/2 Pro-Iran	-	7
Sep 22-28	18 Pro-Iran	-	-
Sep 29-30	8 Pro-Iran	-	-
SEP	37/30 Pro-Iran	9	16
Oct 1-7	21/18 Pro-Iran	6	14
Oct 8-14	17 Pro-Iran	-	-
Oct 15-21	9/8 Pro-Iran	1	-
Oct 22-28	17 Pro-Iran	-	2 US Soldiers
Oct 29-31	6 Pro-Iran	-	-
OCT	70/66 Pro-Iran	7	14 (2US Soldiers)
Nov 1-7	18 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 8-14	19 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 15-21	10/9 Pro-Iran	3	3
Nov 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 29-30	-	-	-
NOV	49/48 Pro-Iran	3	3
Dec 1-7	-	-	-
Dec 8-14	1	2	2
Dec 15-21	-	-	-
Dec 22-28	2	6	2
Dec 29-31	2	2	3
DEC	5	10	7
Jan 1-5	1	1	-
Jan 8-14	1	-	3
Jan 15-21	2	8	5
Jan 22-28	-	-	-
Jan 29-31	-	-	-
JAN	4	9	8
Feb 1-7	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Feb 8-14	3	1	6
Feb 15-21	1	-	-
Feb 22-28	1	-	2
FEB	6/1 Pro-Iran	1	7

 

SOURCES

 

Bas News, "Casualties Reported After Bombing Hit Iraqi Army in Anbar," 2/12/25

 

Dri, Karwan Faidhi, "Drone attack targets Khor Mor gas field," Rudaw, 2/2/25

 

NINA, "A civilian injured in an explosive device explosion east of Kirkuk," 2/12/25

- "An officer injured by an explosive device explosion south of Kirkuk," 2/23/25

 

Rudaw, "Kurdish shepherd recounts suspected ISIS attack in Tuz Khurmatu," 2/19/25

 

Shafaq News, "One killed, three injured in war remnant explosion in Saladin," 2/14/25