Iraq Wars Update: Iraqi Civil War/Islamic State Conflict 

ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Iraq

The History page detailing the many Wars of Iraq, has now been updated to include the conflict that grabbed a hold of the world’s attention in the summer  of 2014, one of the Sunni Jihadist groups fighting the Iraqi regime, known by the acronym, ISIL or ISIS, , seized huge swaths of northern and western Iraq, including the cities of Mosul, Fallujah, and Tikrit, and threatened to march on Baghdad. ISIL is also actively combating the Assad regime in Syria, and by the time of their successes in Iraq, ISIL also controlled large areas of northern and eastern Syria. On June 29, 2014, ISIL changed its name to The Islamic State, declaring a new Caliphate in the Muslim world.

In response to the threat posed by ISIS, the United States, Iran, and Russia all provided material assistance to the Iraqi government, with the U.S. sending several hundred military advisors, and Iran providing combat troops to help stop the Islamic State onslaught.