Iraqi insurgency (2011–13)

Template:Iraqi insurgency (2011–2017) infobox

The Iraqi insurgency, later referred to as the Iraq Crisis, escalated after the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011, resulting in violent conflict with the central government, as well as sectarian violence among Iraq's religious groups.

The insurgency was a direct continuation following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. After the U.S. military's withdrawal, the level of violence rose as Sunni militant groups stepped up attacks targeting the country's majority Shia population to undermine confidence in the Shia-led government and its efforts to protect people without American backup. Armed groups inside Iraq were increasingly galvanized by the Syrian Civil War, with which it merged in 2014. Many Sunni factions stood against the Syrian government, which Shia groups moved to support, and numerous members of both sects also crossed the border to fight in Syria.

In 2014, the insurgency escalated dramatically following the conquest of Mosul and major areas in northern Iraq by the Sunni rebel group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), thereby merging the new conflict with the Syrian Civil War, into a new, far deadlier conflict.

The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. However, the war continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. The United States officially withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011, but the insurgency and various dimensions of the civil armed conflict have continued.

The invasion began in 2003 when the United States, joined by the United Kingdom and several coalition allies, launched a "shock and awe" surprise attack without declaring war. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as U.S. forces swept throughout the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; Saddam was captured, and he was executed by a military court three years later. However, the power vacuum following Saddam's fall, the mismanagement of the occupation and the sectarian policies of various militias led to a lengthy insurgency against U.S., coalition forces and Iraqi government forces as well as widespread sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis. The United States responded with a troop surge in 2007; the heavy American security presence and deals made between the occupying forces and Sunni militias reduced the level of violence. The U.S. began withdrawing its troops in the winter of 2007-2008. The winding down of U.S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama. The U.S. withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by 2011.

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