2012–2013 Iraqi protests in the context of "Fallujah"

The War in Iraq (2013–2017) was an armed conflict between Iraq and its allies and the Islamic State. Following December 2013, the insurgency escalated into a full-scale war following clashes in parts of western Iraq, which culminated in the Islamic State offensive into Iraq in June 2014, leading to the capture of the cities of Mosul, Tikrit and other cities in western and northern Iraq by the Islamic State. Between 4–9 June 2014, the city of Mosul was attacked and later fell; following this, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for a national state of emergency on 10 June. However, despite the security crisis, Iraq's parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister's powers. Ali Ghaidan, a former military commander in Mosul, accused al-Maliki of being the one who issued the order to withdraw from the city of Mosul. At its height, ISIL held 56,000 square kilometers of Iraqi territory, containing 4.5 million citizens.

The war resulted in the forced resignation of al-Maliki in 2014, as well as an airstrike campaign by the United States and a dozen other countries in support of the Iraqi military, participation of American and Canadian troops (predominantly special forces) in ground combat operations, a $3.5 billion U.S.-led program to rearm the Iraqi security forces, a U.S.-led training program that provided training to nearly 200,000 Iraqi soldiers and police, the participation of the military of Iran, including troops as well as armored and air elements, and military and logistical aid provided to Iraq by Russia. On 9 December 2017, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced victory over the Islamic State. The Islamic State switched to guerrilla "hit and run" tactics in an effort to undermine the Iraqi government's effort to eradicate it. This conflict is interpreted by some in Iraq as a spillover of the Syrian civil war. Other Iraqis and observers see it mainly as a culmination of long-running local sectarianism, exacerbated by the 2003–2011 Iraq War, the subsequent increase in anti-Sunni sectarianism under Prime Minister al-Maliki, and the ensuing bloody crack-down on the 2012–2013 Iraqi protests.

In June 2014, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL), which had controlled a large portion of Northeastern Syria at that time during the Syrian civil war, launched a full-scale invasion of Iraq, capturing a large swath of territory extending all the way from the Iraq–Syria border to the outskirts of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad. The invasion came after months of clashes in Anbar province, where tribal groups, and some extremist factions—which had pledged allegiance to ISIL—had been fighting Iraqi government forces in the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi following a series of anti-government protests. The offensive led to the occupation of 40% of Iraq’s territory by the Islamic State, the collapse of several elements of the then-corrupt Iraqi Army and the genocides and mass killings of various religious groups, such as the Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims (who form a majority in the country). This event led to the intervention of Iran and the United States in assisting Iraq in its conflict with the Islamic State, with the latter providing assistance to both Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its allies captured several cities and surrounding territory, beginning with an attack on Samarra on 4 June, followed by the seizure of Mosul on 10 June, and Tikrit on 11 June. As Iraqi government forces fled south on 13 June, Kurdistan Regional Government force's took control of the oil hub of Kirkuk, part of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq.

Beginning in December 2012, Sunnis in Iraq protested against the Maliki government. On 28 December 2013, a Sunni MP named Ahmed al-Alwani was arrested in a raid on his home in Ramadi. Alwani was a prominent supporter of the anti-government protests. This incident led to violence in Al Anbar Governorate between the Iraqi Army and a loose alliance of tribal militias and other groups fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

In January 2014, the anti-government forces took control of Fallujah, and there was heavy fighting in Ramadi. In March the Iraqi army secured Ramadi and attempted to regain Fallujah. In June, ISIL launched a major offensive in Anbar in conjunction with their assault on northern Iraq. By 23 June, they controlled at least 70% of Anbar.