Pro-Iran Groups Continue To Target Americans In Iraq Throughout November 2023

 

November’s security news in Iraq was dominated by pro-Iran groups attacking Iraqi bases that housed U.S. troops over the Gaza War. The Islamic State on the other hand continued its decline in the country although it did carry out one deadly attack.

 

In November there were a total of 35 security incidents reported in the press. 29 were by pro-Iran groups using a mix of drones, rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles. There was a brief pause at the end of the month after a ceasefire was announced in Gaza but then they started up again. Attacks by those factions started in October when the Gaza War began. There were 15 attacks by those groups in that month.

 

As a result 8 Americans were wounded at the Al-Asad airbase in Anbar. in a ballistic missile strike That led the Biden Administration to hit Kataib Hezbollah who was the likely culprit in several locations in Iraq. That caused the death of 9 fighters with another 3 wounded.

 

In comparison there were 6 incidents by the Islamic State. The month before there were only 2. Out of the 11 months this year 5 of them have seen single digit incidents. There were 2 weeks in November where there were no operations at all by the insurgency.

 

At the start of November IS attacked the security forces twice in Anbar. That led to the deaths of 1 Tribal Hashd and 3 soldiers and 2 more soldiers were wounded. A checkpoint was assaulted in north Baghdad’s Tarmiya district that injured 2 more soldiers. 2 other checkpoints were targeted in Diyala that killed 1 soldier and put another in the hospital. The biggest attack came at the end of the month when insurgets attacked the family of a local politician in central Diyala’s Muqdadiya district with IEDs and sniper fire that killed 11 and wounded 16. That was a rare offensive operation and the deadliest by IS in months.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 1-7	Nov 8-14	Nov 15-21	Nov 22-28	Nov 29-30	Totals
Anbar	7/5 Pro-Iran	5 Pro-Iran	4 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	-	17/15 Pro-Iran
Baghdad	-	1	-	-	-	1
Diyala	-	1	-	-	2	3
Irbil	4 Pro-Iran	4 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	3 Pro-Iran	-	13 Pro-Iran
Ninewa	-	1 Pro-Iran		-	-	1 Pro-Iran
TOTAL	11/9 Pro-Iran	12/10 Pro-Iran	6 Pro-Iran	4 Pro-Iran	2	35/29 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	6 (4K, 2W)		8 (8 Amer W)	-	-	14 (4K, 10W)
Baghdad	-	2 W		-	-	2 ((2W)
Diyala	-	1 W		-	27 (11K, 16W)	28 (11K, 17W)
TOTAL	6 (4K, 2W)	3 W	8 (8 Amer W)	-	27 (11K, 162)	44 (15K, 29W)

 

Security In Iraq 2022-23

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	18/9	3	4
Jan 8-14	35/21	3	18
Jan 15-21	12/5	17	12
Jan 22-28	16/3	8	19
Jan 29-31	6/2	2	6
JAN	87/41	33	59
Feb 1-7	11/3	1	10
Feb 8-14	14/6	8	3
Feb 15-21	9/1	-	11
Feb 22-28	8/4	1	5
FEB	42/14	10	29
Mar 1-7	7/3	1	-
Mar 8-14	18/3/1	6	5
Mar 15-21	10/4	5	6
Mar 22-28	6/1	7	4
Mar 29-31	4/1	-	5
MAR	46/12/1	19	21
Apr 1-7	16/8	-	6
Apr 8-14	21/7	8	25
Apr 15-21	22/2	10	22
Apr 22-28	44/4	14	44
Apr 29-30	6/1	2	6
APR	111/22	34	103
May 1-7	31/3	8	25
May 8-14	9/2	2	7
May 15-21	18/6	10	6
May 22-28	13/1	21	11
May 29-31	2/1	-	2
MAY	73/13	41	51
Jun 1-7	6/2	-	8
Jun 8-14	12/4	1	9
Jun 15-21	10/2	5	2
Jun 22-28	12/6	1	14
Jun 29-30	-	-	-
JUN	40/14	7	33
Jul 1-7	7/1	6	11
Jul 8-14	3	-	2
Jul 15-21	11/2	14	16
Jul 22-28	18/7	9	21
Jul 29-31	4	4	4
JUL	43/6	33	54
Aug 1-7	9/1	6	15
Aug 8-14	14	2	14
Aug 15-21	7/2	-	6
Aug 22-28	23/4	14	15
Aug 29-31	4	2	4
AUG	57/7/1	24	54
Sep 1-7	11/1	3	20
Sep 8-14	5	-	12
Sep 15-21	12	4	14
Sep 22-28	10/2 M	2	16
Sep 29-30	3/1 M	-	2
SEP	41/1/3 M	9	64
Oct 1-7	9/2 M	6	16
Oct 8-14	8/2/1 M	5	19
Oct 15-21	6	4	7
Oct 22-28	3	2	1
Oct 29-31	2	-	2
OCT	28/2/3 M	17	45
Nov 1-7	7	1	3
Nov 8-14	6	1	8
Nov 15-21	8	7	17
Nov 22-28	2	1	-
Nov 29-30	-	-	-
NOV	23	10	28
Dec 1-7	13/1	6	11
Dec 8-14	6	7	8
Dec 15-21	6	29	15
Dec 22-28	6	-	4
Dec 29-31	2	-	-
DEC	33/1	42	38
Jan 1-7	7	4	2
Jan 8-14	6/1	5	2
Jan 15-21	11/1	2	7
Jan 22-28	5/2	1	2
Jan 29-31	1	-	2
JAN	29/4	12	15
Feb 1-7	6/2	1	5
Feb 8-14	1	-	2
Feb 15-21	4	4	8
Feb 22-28	9/1	7	3
FEB	20/3	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	-	-
JUL	11/2	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	1	9
AUG	13/1	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

 

SOURCES

 

Bas News, "Anbar: Five Iraqi Soldiers Killed, Injured in IS Attack," 11/5/23

 

NINA, "Two soldiers injured in a terrorist attack on an army station north of Baghdad," 11/15/23

 

Reuters, "Roadside bomb and gunfire attack in east Iraq kills at least 10," 11/30/23

 

Rudaw, "ISIS attack in Makhmour kills Iraqi soldier: Peshmerga," 12/3/23

 

Shafaq News, "Clashes break out between the Iraqi army and ISIS members in Hawi al-Azim," 11/30/23

- "A curfew in an Iraqi city after two explosions and an armed attack that left 25 victims," 11/30/23

- “A fighter in the Hashd died from wounds he sustained as a result of the American bombing north of Babylon,” 11/26/23

- "A soldier was injured in an ISIS attack in Diyala," 11/15/23

- "A victim from the tribal mobilization fell while repelling an ISIS attack in the Anbar desert," 11/4/23

 

Al Sumaria, “The PMF announces 12 casualties in American attacks,” 11/22/23