New Round Of Attacks Upon US Troops In Iraq Leads To Retaliation In July 2024

During July the Islamic State was active for just one week and then absent the rest of the month. Pro-Iran groups however restarted attacks upon Iraqi bases that housed US troops and received a retaliatory attack by the Biden Administration in response.

 

During the second week of July there were 4 incidents involving the Islamic State. A security sweep in Diyala led to a gun battle that left 5 members of the Iraqi Security Forces dead and 4 others wounded. The insurgents also fired upon some Asayesh in Kirkuk killing 1 and leaving another injured. There were two shooting incidents in eastern Salahaddin as well that resulted in the deaths of 4 civilians and 1 wounded total.

 

So far this year there has only been two months, January and March, with double digit insurgent incidents. The other 5 months have been in single digits like in July. For the year the Islamic State is only averaging 5.7 incidents per month. That compares to 11.1 incidents in 2023. The fact that all four of July’s incidents were in just one week is the latest evidence that the insurgency is all but dead in Iraq. IS is simply not capable of carrying out any serious operations anymore in the country.

 

There were 8 attacks by pro-Iran groups during the month. That was lower than the 13 in June and the 20 in May. The Iraqi Resistance picked up its assaults in March after a truce negotiated by Iran and the Sudani government went into effect in February with the U.S. The factions turned to Israel instead and there were 5 such incidents in July. At the end of the month however the groups went back to the Americans with three strikes upon the Ain Al-Assad airbase in Anbar that houses U.S. troops.

 

The new attacks upon the Americans were likely in response to an Iraqi delegation going to Washington to discuss a withdrawal. This was the third such meeting. The Iraqi media reported that the U.S. would ask for up to 3 years to leave. Baghdad requested the Americans depart by September 2025. Neither date was to the liking of the Resistance who have demanded an immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces. The strikes upon Assad base might have been a warning that the process needs to be expedited otherwise Tehran’s allies would return to striking the U.S.

 

What the pro-Iran groups probably didn’t expect was a swift response from the Biden administration which came on July 30 with a drone strike upon Kataib Hezbollah’s base in Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr. 5 people were killed including 4 KH members and a member of Yemen’s Houthis involved in drone strikes. Another 9 KH were wounded and a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force also involved in drones. KH has been blamed for the three attacks upon Assad airbase.

 

Afterwards the Al-Najaba movement announced that it would end its ceasefire with the Americans.

 

This presents a brand new dilemma for the Sudani government which has been in constant talks with those aligned with Tehran to try to stop them from carrying out attacks within the country. Baghdad’s main goal is to provide stability and now that could be upset due to the impatience of the Islamic Resistance.

 

These events also show that Gaza is not the main priority of these groups. Rather they are using the war as an excuse to carry out their own policy of forcing the Americans out of Iraq.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7	Jul 8-14	Jul 15-21	Jan 22-28	Jul 29-31	Totals
Anbar	-	-	1 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	-	3 Pro-Iran
Diyala	-	1	-	-	-	1
Israel	2 Pro-Iran		3 Pro-Iran	-	-	5 Pro-Iran
Kirkuk	-	1	-	-	-	1
Salahddin	-	2	-	-	-	2
TOTAL	2 Pro-Iran	4	4 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	-	12/8 Pro-Iran

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7	Jul 8-14	Jul 15-21	Jan 22-28	Jul 29-31	Totals
Diyala	-	7 (5K, 2W)	-	-	-	7 (5K, 2W)
Kirkuk	-	2 (1K, 1W)	-	-	-	2 (1K, 1W)
Salahaddin	-	5 (4K, 1W)	-	-	-	5 (4K, 1W)
TOTAL	-	14 (10K, 4W)	-	-	-	14 (10K, 4W)

 

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
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

 

SOURCES

 

Arab News, “US strikes Iraqi militia to thwart drone attack on Israel: Report,” 8/1/24

 

Al Arabiya, “Iraq demands complete US troop withdrawal by next year: Sources,” 7/23/24

 

Al Mada, "Changes in the leaders of the army and parliamentary security forces: The procedure is routine," 7/15/24

- “A military delegation headed by Yarallah will visit Washington soon … and the American withdrawal may take 3 to 5 years,” 7/16/24

- "The Phalange claims that the attack was launched from Kuwait and Baghdad supports that it was from outside the borders," 8/1/24

- “To maintain the truce … leaks of an imminent announcement of the date of the withdrawal of American forces,” 7/21/24

 

Martinez, Luis, "US carries out defensive airstrike in Iraq: Officials," ABC News, 7/30/24

 

Al Masalah, “The Iraqi response is in three axes: the immediate removal of the Americans, calm, and the end of the truce,” 7/31/24

 

NINA, "Five fighters martyred in a bombing of a Popular Mobilization site in Jurf al-Nasr," 7/30/24

- "Targeting Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province with two drones," 7/16/24

-"Three soldiers injured in a clash with a terrorist cell in Diyala," 7/14/24

- "Two ISIS members killed northeast of Kirkuk," 7/14/24

 

Rudaw, "5 Iraqi security forces killed in ISIS clash," 7/14/24

- "ISIS kills 2 fishermen in Salahaddin: Police," 7/8/24

 

Shafaq News, "A missile bombardment targets Ain al-Assad base," 7/25/24

- "The Popular Mobilization Forces confirms casualties in an explosion in a drone missile strike north of Babylon," 7/30/24

 

Xinhua, "2 civilians killed in IS attack in Iraq," 7/9/24

- "5 killed in unknown drone attack in central Iraq," 7/31/24

- "Rockets hit airbase housing U.S. forces in W. Iraq," 7/27/24