2nd Month In A Row With No Islamic State Attacks In Iraq

May was the second month when there was no attacks by the Islamic State. This is another sign that the insurgency is over in Iraq.

 

There were no attacks by the militants in Iraq in May but there were two incidents involving the group. On May 4 during a security sweep through the Tarmiya district in northern Baghdad province a group of IS fighters was discovered leading to a gun battle. 1 Hashd al-Shaabi was wounded as a result. Then on May 13 five cars were burned by the group in the Rutba desert which is in western Anbar province heading towards Jordan. This was done to either extort money from locals or keep them out of an area IS members are hiding out in.

 

This follows April when there was not a single Islamic State incident. That was the first time there was no insurgent activity in the country since 2003.

 

The insurgency has been on a steady decline since the second half of 2022. Now it is dead for all intense and purposes. The Islamic State tried and failed to rebuild in Iraq. It has not been able to recruit and rebuild its networks. That was likely due to Sunnis feeling the costs outweighed the benefits of supporting the militants. During the war the Iraqi forces carried out widespread retaliation against Sunnis emptying entire villages and even districts some of which are still deserted to this day. That has effectively intimidated the community. 

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14	May 15-21	May 22-28	May 29-31	Totals
Anbar	-	1	-	-	-	1
Baghdad	1	-	-	-	-	1
Totals	1	1	-	-	-	2

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14	May 15-21	May 22-28	May 29-31	Totals
Baghdad	-	1W (1W)	-	-	-	1W (1W)

 

Security In Iraq 2023-25

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 2025	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
Mar 1-7	1	-	-
Mar 8-14	-	-	-
Mar 15-21	-	-	-
Mar 22-28	-	-	-
Mar 29-31	-	-	-
MAR	1	-	-
Apr 1-7	-	-	-
Apr 8-14	-	-	-
Apr 15-21	-	-	-
Apr 22-28	-	-	-
Apr 29-30	-	-	-
APR	-	-	-
May 1-7	1	-	1
May 8-14	1	-	-
May 15-21	-	-	-
May 22-28	-	-	-
May 29-31	-	-	-
MAY	2	-	1

 

SOURCES

 

Shafaq News, "Anbar: ISIS burns five shepherds' vehicles deep in the desert," 5/13/25

- "Al-Tarmiya clashes: Two ISIS members killed and wounded, and a Popular Mobilization Forces member injured," 5/4/25