Salahuddin campaign

Not to be confused with the campaigns of Saladin.
Salahuddin campaign
Part of the Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017) and
the Military intervention against ISIL

A map of the Salahuddin Province, located in north-central Iraq, north of the capital city of Baghdad
Date5 June 2014 – 8 October 2016
(2 years, 4 months and 3 days)
Location
Salahuddin Province, Iraq
Result

Major Iraqi victory: Iraqi Government forces retakes nearly all ISIL-held parts of the province.

Territorial
changes		 The eastern, central, and southern parts of the Salahuddin Province are captured by Iraqi Security Forces, by late October 2016
Belligerents

Iraq Iraq
 Kurdistan Region[1]


Iranian-led intervention:
Iran Iran[2]
Hezbollah[2]
Shia militias:
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq[3]
Badr Organization[3]
Kata'ib Hezbollah[4]
Muqawimun[5]

U.S.-led intervention:
 United States[6]
 United Kingdom[7]
 Canada[8]
 France[9][10]		 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Commanders and leaders
Iraq Haidar al-Abadi
Iraq Khaled Obeidi
Iraq General Ayub Khalif †[11]
Iraq Saleh Jaber[12]
Akram al-Kaabi[13]
Hadi Al-Amiri
Iran Qasem Soleimani[13]
United States Barack Obama
United Kingdom David Cameron (Until 2016)
United Kingdom Theresa May (From 2016)
Canada Stephen Harper (Until 2015)
Canada Justin Trudeau (From 2015)
France François Hollande

Abu Ayman al-Iraqi †
(Head of Military Shura)[14][15]
Abu Suleiman †
(Replacement Military Chief)[15]

Islamic State Abu Muslim al-Turkmani †
(Deputy, Iraq)[16]
Abu Nabil al-Anbari †
(ISIL Governor of the Saladin Governorate)
Abu Maria †
(Top ISIL leader in Tikrit)[17]
Units involved

Iraq Iraqi Armed Forces
Peshmerga
Iran Iranian Armed Forces

 United States Air Force
 Royal Air Force

 Royal Canadian Air Force
French Air Force

Military of ISIL

Anti-Government fighters

Strength
20,000–30,000+[22][23] 14,000+[24][25]
Casualties and losses

Several thousand killed or executed[26][27][28]

4,000+ captured[29]		 6,000+ killed[30][31][32][33][34][35][36]
46 civilians killed[31][37]
28,000 civilians displaced[38]
28,000 civilians displaced[38]
100 civilians abducted by ISIL[39]

The Salahuddin Campaign was a military conflict in the Saladin Governorate (Salahuddin Governorate), located in north-central Iraq, involving various factions (both internal & external) fighting against a single common enemy, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The province exited Iraqi government control during ISIL's Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) when large swathes of the north of the country were captured by the militant group with the Iraqi national army quickly disintegrating in the path of its advance. In light of the sweeping gains of the militants, Nouri Al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq at that time, attempted to declare a state of emergency though the Iraqi Parliament blocked his efforts to do so.[40]

The cities of Baiji and Tikrit (Saddam Hussein's birthplace and stronghold) fell to ISIS and the group even reached the city of Samarra itself but could not wrest control of it due to the resistance it encountered by the Iraqi security forces in conjunction with the Shi'ite paramilitaries.[41] Both the United States and Iran intervened in order to stem the tide against ISIS and were relatively successful in the breaking of the Siege of Amirli in which both parties played a significant role (however they did not and still do not officially cooperate or coordinate their respective efforts with one another). Although in the First Battle of Tikrit ISIS consolidated their control over the city and strongly repulsed any attempts at its recapture by Iraqi security forces and militia contingents.

After months of preparatory maneuvers and intelligence gathering, a force of over 23,000[42] allied fighters including the Iraqi armed forces, Shi'ite private militias and Sunni tribal militias began an offensive in early March[43][44] to encircle ISIL and entrap their fighters in Tikrit and its environs in the Second Battle of Tikrit. The operation met with decisive success, with all the ISIL militants being encircled and subsequently killed or captured in Tikrit.

  1. ^ "Iraqi Town Besieged by Islamic State Pleads for U.S. Help". Wall Street Journal. August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Iraq admits Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian RG fight alongside Iraqi security forces".
  3. ^ a b Black, Ian (16 June 2014). "Qassim Suleimani: commander of Quds force, puppeteer of the Middle East". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  4. ^ Roggio, Bill (10 September 2014). "US aided Hezbollah Brigades in breaking ISIL siege of Iraqi town". Long War Journal. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  5. ^ Khedery, Ali (22 August 2014). "How Isis came to be". Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Operation Inherent Resolve Strike Updates". United States Department of Defense. January 26, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  7. ^ "RAF air strikes in Iraq: November 2014". gov.uk. 22 January 2015.
  8. ^ "ISIS Weapons Hit by CF-18 Jets in Northern Iraq". CBC News. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  9. ^ "France launches first bombing strike against ISIS in Tikrit". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  10. ^ Abdelhak Mamoun (27 March 2015). "France launchs [sic] its first air strike against ISIS in Tikrit". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  11. ^ Abdelhak Mamoun (21 April 2015). "Funeral honors General Khalif and soldiers who defended Baiji refinery against ISIS". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Iraqi security forces enter Baiji refinery". Al-Arabiya. 2014-11-18. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
  13. ^ a b c "Iraqi forces, Iranian-supported militias report success in Baiji - The Long War Journal". 14 November 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  14. ^ Hubbard, Ben; Schmitt, Eric (27 August 2014). "Military Skill and Terrorist Technique Fuel Success of ISIS". New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  15. ^ a b Alessandria Masi (11 November 2014). "If ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Is Killed, Who Is Caliph Of The Islamic State Group?". International Business Times. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  16. ^ Matt Bradley and Ghassan Adnan in Baghdad, and Felicia Schwartz in Washington (10 November 2014). "Coalition Airstrikes Targeted Islamic State Leaders Near Mosul". WSJ. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  17. ^ Kukil Bora (13 April 2015). "ISIS Leader Abu Maria Killed By Iraqi Forces In Tikrit: Report". International Business Times. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  18. ^ "BBC News - Iran jets bomb Islamic State targets in Iraq - Pentagon". BBC News. 3 December 2014.
  19. ^ Hassan, Hassan (17 June 2014). "More Than ISIS, Iraq's Sunni Insurgency". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  20. ^ "Military council of the rebels starts setting governors on their captured cities". Elaph. Osama Mahdi. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  21. ^ "Former Loyalists of Saddam Hussein Crucial in Helping ISIS". The New York Times. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  22. ^ Al-Jawoshy, Omar (2 March 2015). "Iraqi Offensive to Retake Tikrit From ISIS Begins". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  23. ^ "al-Araby al-Jadeed English - Iraqi government forces and militias begin Tikrit offensive". Alaraby.co.uk. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  24. ^ Al-Araal-Jadeed/Associated Press (2 March 2015). "al-Araby al-Jadeed English - Iraqi government forces and militias begin Tikrit offensive". alaraby. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  25. ^ Abdelhak Mamoun (14 April 2015). "Hundreds of ISIS fighters arrive on Salahuddin outskirts". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  26. ^ Aryn Baker (15 June 2014). "ISIS In Iraq Claims Massacre of 1700 Soldiers". Time. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  27. ^ "ISTANBUL: Operation to retake Tikrit from Islamic State stalled by heavy casualties, discord - Iraq - McClatchy DC". McClatchy DC. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  28. ^ "البشمركة وقوات عراقية تدخلان بلدة سليمان بيك". Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  29. ^ "(4000)". 7 September 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  30. ^ Combat vehicle
  31. ^ a b "Lessons From the Second Battle of Tikrit: March 2-April 4, 2015". The Huffington Post. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  32. ^ Abdelhak Mamoun (17 April 2015). "130 ISIS elements killed, sleeper cells found in Tikrit". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  33. ^ "Saddam Hussein's former deputy killed near Tikrit: report". NY Daily News. New York. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  34. ^ 160+ killed in the Battle of Baiji
  35. ^ "Baghdad: oil town Baiji in 'almost fully' under control". Rudaw. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  36. ^ "Deadlock in battle for Iraq refinery casts doubts on Mosul campaign". Reuters. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  37. ^ "Iraq Body Count -- Database". www.iraqbodycount.org. Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  38. ^ a b "Islamic State crisis: Thousands flee Iraqi advance on Tikrit". BBC News. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  39. ^ Amre Sarhan (9 April 2015). "ISIS militants abduct 100 civilians north of Tikrit". Iraq news, the latest Iraq news. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  40. ^ "Obama's Iraq dilemma: Fighting the ISIL puts US and Iran on the same side". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  41. ^ "Iraq dislodges insurgents from city of Samarra with airstrikes". Reuters. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  42. ^ "Islamic State will be forced out of Tikrit, says top US general". the Guardian. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  43. ^ "Advancing Iraq troops enter strategic town on edge of Tikrit". Reuters. 7 March 2015. Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  44. ^ "Top US general optimistic about outcome of Tikrit battle". Daily Times. Retrieved 12 March 2015.