Security In Iraq Aug 8-14, 2019

(Shafaaq News)

Attacks went back down to the teens during the second week of August in Iraq. This was another sign that this year’s spring-summer campaign Revenge of the Levant has not amounted to much. At the same time that might be because the Islamic State has other priorities in Iraq right now.

There were 18 security incidents reported from August 8-14, 2019. That was down from 27 the week before, but on line with most of the summer. Diyala with 7 and Kirkuk with 6 had the most attacks during the week. Reports by the United Nations and United States pointed out that the Islamic State is picking up attacks in Syria, while in Iraq its main priority is to drive people out of areas and set up camps to rebuild its cadres. That explains why this summer’s offensive has been a whimper rather than a boom.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Aug 1-7	Aug 8-14
Anbar	1	-
Babil	3	1
Baghdad	7	1
Diyala	7	7
Kirkuk	1	6
Ninewa	2	1
Salahaddin	5	2
Sulaymaniya	1	-
TOTAL	27	18

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Aug 1-7	Aug 8-14
Anbar	2 (2W)	-
Babil	5 (5W)	1 (1W)
Baghdad	13 (3K, 10W)	2 (2K)
Diyala	13 (5K, 8W)	12 (6K, 6W)
Kirkuk	1 (1K)	9 (3K, 6W)
Ninewa	3 (2K, 1W)	1 (1K0
Salahaddin	8 (3K, 5W)	1 (1K)
TOTAL	45 (14K, 31W)	26 (13K, 13W)

The reduction in violence meant a drop in casualties from 45 the first week of August to 26 the second. There were 1 U.S. soldier, 3 civilian, 4 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 5 Hashd al-Shaabi deaths along with 2 Hashd, 5 civilian, and 6 ISF wounded.

There were no incidents in Anbar, another sign that it is no longer a focus of the insurgency. Instead, IS is using the province to move men and material in from Syria.

In Babil, 51 bodies were discovered. The authorities have been trying to downplay this claiming that the people died in crimes and other incidents, but Sunni lists like the Axis Alliance said they were victims of the Hashd. This also came right after the Human Rights Commission reported that 7,663 people were disappeared during the war by political parties and the Hashd. The corpses were found in the Jurf al-Sakhr district which is completely devoid of people having been forced out by the security forces because it is along the pilgrimage routes to Najaf and Karbala. The Interior Minister just visited the governorate and said no one would be allowed back to the district until the area was secure, which is ironic because it is a Hashd military base.

In previous weeks Baghdad had a large amount of violence, but not this week. There was just one attack when a sniper fired upon a checkpoint in the Tarmiya district in the outer north. Still, the overall number of incidents has slowly but surely been going up. Returning to the capital is a priority of IS because that will allow it to challenge the Iraqi government and show that it is still relevant.

Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salahaddin are the core area of IS’s operations. There were 16 incidents there. In Diyala, 3 towns were hit by mortar fire. As usual, most of the attacks 5 out of 7 where in the Jalawla-Khanaqin area in the northeast. The militants are exploiting the holes between security forces there and the lack of cooperation between the ISF and Peshmerga.  IS hit the Daquq district three times during the week. That resulted in 50 people fleeing the area and a delegation going to the Interior Ministry and the president’s office asking for protection. There was also an assault upon a Federal Police base in the district that involved gunfire and mortars. In Ninewa, a U.S. adviser was killed in a confrontation with the insurgents. Few details have come out over what happened. Finally, in Salahaddin a policeman was kidnapped and killed and there was a shootout. IS is working to establish de facto control of the rural areas in all of these provinces so that it can set up bases and train its cadres. Diyala is where it is strongest and it is looking to expand in the other governorates.

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-19

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
Jan 2019	21	2	3	8	-	-	1	-	-
Feb	18	2	5	7	-	-	3	-	-
Mar	7	6	1	2	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	13	15	2	4	1	-	1	-	-
May	11	13	3	5	-	-	13 (9 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jun	15	8	2	4	-	1	-	1	-
Jul	7	12	2	4	-	-	2	-	-
Aug	5	5	-	2	-	1	-	-	-
2019 Totals	95	62	18	36	1	2	20	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
Jan 2019	8	17	-	4	2	3	-	-	1
Feb	9	5	3	-	-	2	1	-	-
Mar	5	11	2	1	2	-	2	-	-
Apr	5	9	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
May	11	18	2	3	1	-	13 (13 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jun	5	10	1	2	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	2	10	-	-	-	1	2	-	-
Aug	2	2	2	-	-	1	-	-	-
2019 Totals	47	83	13	10	5	7	18	-	1

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
Jan 2019	6	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	8	3	2	2	-	-	1	-	1
Mar	6	1	3	-	-	-	1	-	1
Apr	6	6	1	-	1	2	2	-	-
May	8	8	1	-	1	2	6 (5 Farms Burned)	-	1
Jun	2	5	-	-	1	-	4 (4 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jul	2	2	-	-	1	1	2	-	-
Aug	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
2019 Totals	39	26	7	2	5	5	17	-	3

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
Jan 2019	5	5	3	1	-	3	-	-	1
Feb	7	11	3	-	-	2	1	1	-
Mar	3	5	2	-	-	-	-	-	1
Apr	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
May	10	9	4	1	1	-	6 (5 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jun	4	3	2	-	1	-	-	-	-
Jul	3	6	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
Aug	5	1	1	-	-	1	1	-	1
2019 Totals	39	42	18	3	2	6	8	1	4

(Gun Battles, Attacks on Checkpoints, Attacks on Mukhtars, Attacks on Towns are all subsets of the total number of shootings and IEDs/Sticky Bombs reported)

Suicide-Car Bombs In Iraq 2018-19

Month	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs	Totals
Jan	7 (1- Diyala, 3 – Baghdad/Baghdad, 3 - Kirkuk)	6 (1- Anbar, 1 – Diyala, 1 – Kirkuk, 1 – Salahaddin, 2 - Babil)	13
Feb	4 (1 – Anbar/Ramadi 1 – Diyala 1 – Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	-	4
Mar	2 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk 1 - Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Kirkuk)	3
Apr	4 (1 - Salahaddin 3 – Anbar)	1 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk)	5
May	8 (1 – Diyala 1 - Salahaddin) 2 – Baghdad/1 - Baghdad 4 - Kirkuk)	-	8
Jun		1 (1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	1
Jul	1 (1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	1 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk)	2
Aug	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	2 (1 – Anbar, 1 – Kirkuk)	3
Sep	6 (1 – Ninewa) 2 – Anbar 3 – Salahaddin)	2 (1 – Kirkuk 1 – Salahaddin)	8
Oct	2 (1 – Anbar/Fallujah 1 – Salahaddin)	3 (1 – Anbar/Fallujah 1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	5
Nov	-	3 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul 2 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	3
Dec	-	1 (1 – Ninewa)	1
Jan	1 (1 – Anbar)	3 (1 – Anbar 1 – Kirkuk 1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	4
Feb	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul)	2
Mar	-	1 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul)	1
Apr	-	2 (1 – Anbar 1 - Salahaddin)	2
May	1 (1 – Baghdad)	3 (2 – Anbar 1 – Ninewa)	4
Jun	1 (1 – Diyala)	-	1
Jul	2 (2 – Baghdad/Malif)	-	2
Aug	-	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	1

Security In Iraq 2018-19

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	62/60	45	63
Jan 8-14	58/56	58/56	66/63
Jan 15-21	62/59	151	151
Jan 22-28	59/51	140/136	65/63
Jan 29-31	24	21	21
JAN 2018	265/ 250 by IS	417/ 409 by IS (196 Violent Deaths)	366/ 361 by IS
Feb 1-7	58/56	192/141	62/60
Feb 8-14	57	58	91
Feb 15-21	53/52	343	43
Feb 22-28	46/44	38/37	70/68
FEB	214/ 209 by IS	631/ 579 by IS (215 Violent Deaths)	266/ 262 by IS
Mar 1-7	68/64	115/108	79/77
Mar 8-14	52	75	59
Mar 15-21	64/59	165/119	98
Mar 22-28	77/64	210/87	61/60
Mar 29-31	19/18	26/25	34
MAR	280/ 257 by IS	591/ 414 by IS (446 Violent Deaths)	331/ 328 by IS
Apr 1-7	38/34	172/140	27/25
Apr 8-14	60/52	173/136	81/72
Apr 15-21	43/35	63/18	72/70
Apr 22-28	40/31	60/30	39/33
Apr 29-30	12/11	14/11	4
APR	193/ 163 by IS	482/ 335 by IS (236 Violent Deaths)	223/ 204 by IS
May 1-7	45/39	52/43	55/54
May 8-14	55/51	68/46	49
May 15-21	35/32	55/26	80/75
May 22-28	49/46	72/62	51/49
May 29-31	16/13	39/30	15
MAY	200/ 181 by IS	286/ 207 by IS (261 Violent Deaths)	250/ 242 by IS
Jun 1-7	50/44	96/87	29/28
Jun 8-14	67/59	107/47	88
Jun 15-21	40/35	82/28	19
Jun 22-28	45/44	53/38	62
Jun 29-30	17/15	21/16	14
JUN	219/ 197 by IS	359/ 216 by IS (315 Violent Deaths)	212/ 211 by IS
Jul 1-7	50/49	56/52	90
Jul 8-14	42/39	56/47	31
Jul 15-21	50/45	59/42	63
Jul 22-28	29/24	61/53	19/15
Jul 29-31	23/21	25/13	11
JUL	194/ 178 by IS	257/ 207 by IS (212 Violent Deaths)	214/ 210 by IS
Aug 1-7	43/39	49/45	30/29
Aug 8-14	43/42	38	44
Aug 15-21	38/35	24/21	40/37
Aug 22-28	35/31	25/19	61
Aug 29-31	27/24	68/30	43
AUG	186/ 171 by IS	204/ 153 by IS (189 Violent Deaths)	218/ 214 by IS
Sep 1-7	38	44	54
Sep 8-14	48/43	63/55	127
Sep 15-21	44/38	90/74	70
Sep 22-28	36/33	22/17	27/26
Sep 29-30	9/6	19/10	29/25
SEP	175/ 158 by IS	237/ 200 by IS (179 Violent Deaths)	307/ 302 by IS
Oct 1-7	54/49	85/25	92
Oct 8-14	43/41	161/152	41
Oct 15-21	54/50	87/72	35
Oct 22-28	24/23	24/20	53
Oct 29-31	23	10	24
OCT	198/ 186 by IS	367/ 279 by IS (177 Violent Deaths)	245 by IS
Nov 1-7	32/31	75/69	36
Nov 8-14	39/31	111/63	19
Nov 15-21	30/27	51/43	29
Nov 22-28	26/21	35/25	30
Nov 29-30	9/8	4	27
NOV	136/ 118 by IS	276/ 204 by IS (183 Violent Deaths_	141 by IS
Dec 1-7	22/15	21/8	11
Dec 8-14	22	15	22
Dec 15-21	23/21	23/16	17
Dec 22-28	30/28	24/18	37
Dec 29-31	15/14	225/220	4
DEC	112/ 100 by IS	308/ 277 by IS (96 Violent Deaths)	91 by IS
Jan 1-7	32/31	17/10	24
Jan 8-14	32/30	97/94	53
Jan 15-21	22/18	17/11	16/14
Jan 22-28	27/22	36/17	31
Jan 29-31	12	7	6
JAN	114	139	130/128
Feb 1-7	29/28	76	30
Feb 8-14	24	26	18
Feb 15-21	40	112	12
Feb 22-28	25	36	70
FEB	118	250	130
Mar 1-7	13	22	45
Mar 8-14	19/18	75/10	37
Mar 15-21	12/11	66/37	21/11
Mar 22-28	13/12	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	17/16	9/8	26
Apr 22-28	19/18	45/10	15
Apr 29-30	2	1	4
APR	99	105	100
May 1-7	20/19	15	18
May 8-14	24	31	41
May 15-21	37/36	62	39
May 22-28	43	39	54
May 29-31	13	16	48
MAY	137/136	163	200
Jun 1-7	26	19	44
Jun 8-14	25/24	29	15
Jun 15-21	21/16	6	13/10
Jun 22-28	18	17	41
Jun 29-30	9	3	9
JUN	99/93	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

Violence By Province Aug 8-14, 2019

Province	Violence
Babil	1 Incident 1 Wounded 1 Hashd 1 Shooting
Baghdad	1 Incident 2 Killed 2 Hashd 1 Shooting
Diyala	7 Incidents 6 Killed 1 ISF 2 Hashd 3 Civilians 6 Wounded 2 ISF 4 Civilians 2 Shootings 1 IED 3 Mortars
Kirkuk	6 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Hashd 2 ISF 6 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 Hashd 4 ISF 2 Shootings 1 IED 1 Sticky Bomb 2 Mortars
Ninewa	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 US Soldier
Salahaddin	2 Incidents 1 Killed 1 ISF 2 Shootings

SOURCES

Abu Zeed, Adnan, “Iraq’s ever-increasing enforced disappearances,” Al Monitor, 8/8/19

Baghdad Post, "Two policemen wounded in a shooting at a security point northeast of Baquba," 8/11/19

Dri, Karwan Faidhi, “Terrified by ISIS resurgence, Daquq villagers appeal to Baghdad,” Rudaw, 8/16/19

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "U.S. service member killed while on mission in Iraq's Nineveh," Iraqi News, 8/10/19

Iraq Newspaper, "Documents Of The Bodies Of Iraqis Kidnapped From Jurf al-Sakhr Treated By The Province Of Babil As Unidentified On Eid Al-Adha," 8/12/19

- "ISIS Bombs The Villages Of Mayah And The Death Of Saddam And Publishes The Image Of The Slain Policeman And Declares: Iraq First Operations," 8/8/19

- "ISIS Sniper Kills Two Members Of Brigade 22 In Tarmiya North Of Baghdad," 8/13/19

Lead Inspector General, “Operation Inherent Resolve, Lead Inspector General Report To The United States Congress,” 8/2/19

Al Maalomah, "The Popular Mobilization repels an ISIS attack near Siniya," 8/11/19

Mostafa, Mohamed, “50 families flee town in Iraqi Kurdistan fearing Islamic State threat,” Iraqi News, 8/15/19

NINA, “Interior Minister: Return Of Displacement Of Jurf al-Nasr Displaced Depends On Stability Of Security Situation In The Region,” 8/15/19

- "A Security source: ISIS frees a kidnapped man northeast of Baquba for ransom," 8/10/19

- "A soldier was killed in an explosive in northeast Baquba," 8/11/19

Sotaliraq “Axis Alliance accuses militias of starting the liquidation of 16 thousand abducted from the Sunni community,” 8/16/19

Al Sumaria, "Security media announce the killing of two civilians by shelling on the village of Abu Nizar," 8/8/19

- "Two civilians wounded by six mortar shells on a village in Diyala," 8/8/19

- "Unknowns slaughter a policeman south of Samarra," 8/8/19

United Nations Security Council, “Twenty-fourth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted in pursuant to resolution 2368 (2017) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities,” 7/15/19