Security In Iraq November 2020

During the spring of 2020 the Islamic State launched a large campaign in Iraq with attacks spiking to the highest level since 2018. There was an immediate dip after that with some of the fewest attacks in the country for years. Since then IS has slowly but surely been picking up its operations. This is not a new offensive but a rather new security norm.

 

In November there were a total of 87 security incidents in Iraq reported in the media. One of those was carried out by a pro-Iran group which fired rockets at Baghdad’s Green Zone on November 17 which resulted in the death of a child and five others being wounded. That left 86 incidents by the Islamic State. That was up from 85 attacks in October, 82 in September, 64 in August, 61 in July and a nadir of 52 in June. This steady rise in violence isn’t the result of a new campaign which are marked by large jumps but rather appears to be the insurgents just picking up the pace of their attacks.

 

Attacks were spread across Babil (3), Irbil (3), Baghdad (5), Anbar (8), Ninewa (15), Kirkuk (16), Salahaddin (16), and Diyala (20).

 

60 people were killed as a result made up of 14 Hashd al-Shaabi, 21 Iraqi Security Force (ISF) members and 25 civilians. Another 110 were wounded consisting of 20 Hashd, 30 civilians and 60 ISF. The security forces made up 115 of the 170 casualties during the month. Since the spring the insurgents have carried out a war of attrition targeting the government’s forces over civilians. That also means that officers and commanders have been singled out. During the month a police chief in Salahaddin was killed in an ambush in the Baiji district for instance.

 

Incidents in Anbar remained at basically the same level as the month before. There were 8 attacks in November versus 7 in October. The types of incidents did change. Usually there are just shootings and an occasional IED in the province. During November there was a home invasion, two checkpoints were attacked, there were two kidnappings, and the militants set up a fake checkpoint and kidnapped more people while killing three police. If this continues into December it would mark a decided escalation in the governorate which is mostly used to smuggle men and material in from Syria.

 

There were three incidents in Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr in the northeast. This is a large Kataib Hezbollah base so the militants regularly attack the area.

 

Security in Baghdad remains largely the same. There were 5 incidents down from 6 in October. Two of the attacks occurred in the south and three in the north all in outer towns. IS has given up on infiltrating into the capital itself and now carries out small attacks on the periphery.

 

Diyala was the most violent area of Iraq as usual but there was a large drop in incidents from 31 in October down to 20 in November. Almost all the incidents took place in the Muqdadiya district in the center (11 total) and Khanaqin in the northeast (3 total). There were another 5 in the Azim area in the northwest along the Salahaddin border. In October there was only one incident in that area showing that the insurgents are shifting some of their focus to a new region. The Hashd command in the province has responded by building a series of barriers and fortifications around rural towns in Muqdadiya and Khanaqin. These are unlikely to stop IS’s hit and run tactics and the group can simply shift to other areas like Azim.

 

The insurgents continue to exploit security gaps in the Makhmour district of southern Irbil. This is a disputed territory where there are holes between where the Iraqi government and Kurdish security forces are stationed and patrol. IS has been hitting this area since the start of 2020.

 

There was also an uptick in serious incidents in Kirkuk. Gun battles with the security forces went from one in October to three in November while attacks on checkpoints went from one to four during that same time period. There were also two kidnappings which hadn’t happened since September. As usual almost all of these occurred in the south where the Islamic State was never expelled.

 

Incidents went from 9 to 15 from October to November in Ninewa. Usually there are just low level but a checkpoint was attacked, some electricity towers were blown up, and three mortar incidents. Like Anbar, Ninewa is mostly used for logistics so this might point to a shift in tactics there.

 

Likewise in Salahaddin attacks went from 10 the previous month to 16 in November. Besides the ambush mentioned before there was also a ferry burned in the Tuz Kharmato district in the east, a district director and a police chief both in the Yathrib district had their houses shot up, and two people were kidnapped and beheaded in the Shirqat district.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 1-7	Nov 8-14	Nov 15-21	Nov 22-28	Nov 29-30	Totals
Anbar	1	3	1	3	-	8
Babil	1	1	1	-	-	3
Baghdad	-	2	3/1 Pro-Iran	1	-	6/1 Pro-Iran
Diyala	5	8	3	3	1	20
Irbil	-	-	-	1	2	3
Kirkuk	1	5	3	6	1	16
Ninewa	3	2	4	4	2	15
Salahaddin	-	4	4	6	2	16
TOTAL	11	25	19/ 1 Pro-Iran	24	8	87/ 1 Pro-Iran

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 1-7	Nov 8-14	Nov 15-21	Nov 22-28	Nov 29-30	Totals
Anbar	1 (1K)	4 (1K, 3W)	1 (1K)	9 (4K, 5W)	-	15 (7K, 8W)
Babil	2 (2W)	1 (1K)	2 (1K, 1W)	1 (1K)	-	5 (2K, 3W)
Baghdad	-	20 (11K, 9W)	8 (3K, 8W)	-	-	28 (14K, 14W)
Diyala	10 (4K, 6W)	13 (4K, 9W)	7 (7W)	4 (4W)	3 (3W)	37 (8K, 29W)
Kirkuk	1 (1K)	16 (5K, 11W)	1 (1K)	5 (5W)	1 (1K)	24 (8K, 16W)
Ninewa	3 (1K, 2W)	3 (3W)	2 (2K)	9 (2K, 7W)	5 (5W)	22 (5K, 17W)
Salahaddin	-	5 (1K, 4W)	22 (10K, 12W)	9 (4K, 5W)	2 (2W)	38 (15K, 23W)
TOTAL	17 (7K, 10W)	62 (23K, 39W)	43 (18K, 25W)	37 (11K, 26W)	11 (1K, 10W)	170 (60K, 110W)

 

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	10	10	1	2	-	-	2	-	-
Aug	16	5	2	7	-	3	3	-	-
Sep	21	8	2	3	-	-	6	-	-
Oct	17	11	1	2	2	1	2	-	-
Nov	14	6	2	5	-	-	2	-	-

 

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	5	2	1	1	-	1	1	-	-
Aug	5	5	1	-	-	-	3	-	-
Sep	9	5	2	2	-	2	2	3	-
Oct	8	7	1	1	-	-	3	-	-
Nov	9	3	3	4	-	2	-	-	-

 

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	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Aug	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sep	5	7	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Oct	4	5	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
Nov	4	8	-	1	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	4	5	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
Aug	6	3	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
Sep	6	10	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
Oct	6	3	3	-	-	-	1	-	-
Nov	12	3	3	1	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
Jul 8-14	16/2	15	15
Jul 15-21	19/1	17	28
Jul 22-28	13/5	9	8
Jul 29-31	13/2	3	7
JUL	73/12	47	67
Aug 1-7	10/4	7	10
Aug 8-14	19/8	7	22
Aug 15-21	14/5	13	20
Aug 22-28	32/3	23	41
Aug 29-31	13/3	4	12
AUG	88/24	54	105
Sep 1-7	19/4	13	26
Sep 8-14	27/6	8	29
Sep 15-21	32/10	12	14
Sep 22-28	28/7	19	11
Sep 29-30	6/3	1	6
SEP	113/31	53	86
Oct 1-7	19/5	9	12
Oct 8-14	14/1	8	10
Oct 15-21	30/1	25	26
Oct 22-28	25/1	16	24
Oct 29-31	5	4	5
OCT	93/8	62	77
Nov 1-7	11	7	10
Nov 8-14	25	23	39
Nov 15-21	19/1	18	25
Nov 22-28	24	11	26
Nov 29-30	8	1	10
NOV	87/1	60	110

 

Violence By Province Nov, 2020

Province	Violence
Anbar	8 Incidents 7 Killed 1 Civilian 6 ISF 8 Wounded 3 ISF 5 Civilians   7 Shootings
Babil	3 Incidents 2 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Hashd 3 Wounded 1 Hashd 2 ISF   2 Shootings 1 IED
Baghdad	6/1 Pro-Iran Incidents 14 Killed 5 Hashd 9 Civilians 14 Wounded 6 Civilians 8 Hashd   3 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb 1 Rockets
Diyala	20 Incidents 8 Killed 4 Civilians 4 ISF 29 Wounded 6 Civilians 23 ISF   14 Shootings 6 IEDs 1 Field Burned
Irbil	3 Incidents 1 Killed 1 ISF   3 Shootings
Kirkuk	16 Incidents 8 Killed 3 Hashd 5 ISF 16 Wounded 6 Hashd 10 ISF   9 Shootings 3 IEDs 1 Rockets
Ninewa	15 Incidents 5 Killed 1 ISF 4 Civilians 17 Wounded 6 ISF 11 Civilians   4 Shootings 8 IEDs 4 Mortars 3 Suicide Bombers Arrested
Salahaddin	16 Incidents 15 Killed 4 ISF 5 Hashd 6 Civilians 23 Wounded 2 Civilians 5 Hashd 16 ISF   12 Shootings 3 IEDs 1 Rocket

 

SOURCES

 

AIN, "Electricity Ministry announces targeting the Mosul-Qayara dam line with a sabotage attack," 11/21/20

- "With the participation of security forces and the people … foiling an ISIS attack on the home of an Iraqi official," 11/21/20

 

Baghdad Post, "Gunmen set up fake checkpoint in Anbar, kill an affiliate, and kidnap three people" 11/23/20

- "The second in a week … the ISIS terrorists launch an attack on an army security post south of Mosul," 11/1/20

 

Bas News, "IS Militants Attack Police Colonel's Home in Salahaddin, Kill One," 11/25/20

 

Iraq Newspaper, "The District Commissioner confirms … that ISIS has taken control of the international road in Al-Rutba area near Al-Sakar, killing 3 police officers from Al-Rutba and kidnapping a fourth," 11/23/20

 

Al Maalomah, "A civilian was injured due to an armed attack on the security checkpoint, east of Fallujah," 11/24/20

- "ISIS released 3 of the 4 shepherds, hours after they were kidnapped in western Anbar," 11/10/20

- "A kidnapped person was released hours after he was kidnapped in a pre-emptive operation in western Anbar," 11/23/20

- "A police associate was killed in an armed attack west of Anbar," 11/23/20

- "A policeman was killed in a terrorist attack in the Al-Kasra neighborhood, southwest of Anbar," 11/28/20

- “The Popular Mobilization Forces: 22 villages in the countryside of Khanaqin believe in the multiple rings,” 12/2/20

- “The Popular Mobilization Forces announce that the northern Muqdadiya belt is fully secured … 3 overlapping collars to monitor ISIS,” 12/1/20

- "Two soldiers wounded in an armed attack west of Anbar," 11/10/20

 

Al Monitor, "Rockets fall in Baghdad after Pentagon announces Iraq troop reduction," 11/18/20

 

NINA, "A number of security forces and civilians were killed and wounded in an armed attack in Salah al-Din," 11/24/20

 

NRT, “Rockets Fall Inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, Child Killed: Military,” 11/18/20

 

Shafaaq News, "Anbar … Unidentified people assassinate a police affiliate," 11/18/20

- "ISIS attacks fishermen, east of Salahaddin, and the Lion of Amerli is attacked," 11/8/20

 

Al Sumaria, "A policeman was killed and three civilians were wounded in an ISIS attack in al-Nukhaib," 11/28/20

 

Xinhua, "IS militants kill 2 villagers, policeman in Iraq," 11/29/20