List of wars involving Iraq

This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Results Iraqi losses Head of State Prime Minister
Military Civilians
Mesopotamian Campaign
(1914–1918 World War IWWI)
Allied victory ~89,500 ~35,500 Mehmed VI (Ottoman rule) Ahmet Tevfik Pasha (Ottoman rule)
Mahmud Barzanji Revolts (1919–1924) Mandatory Iraq
RAF Iraq Command
Assyrian levies
Kurdish state
  • Barzinja tenantry and tribesmen
  • Hamavand tribe
  • Sections of the Jaf, Jabbari, Sheykh Bizayni and Shuan tribes

Kingdom of Kurdistan

  • Kurdish National Army
British-Assyrian victory
  • Kingdom of Kurdistan abolished in 1924
  • Sheykh Mahmud retreats to underground
  • Iraqi Kurdistan merged into Mandatory Iraq (1926)
  • Kingdom of Kurdistan reconquered by the British
 ?  ? Before 1920: Sir Percy Cox

(British High Commissioner)

After 1920: King Faisal I

Before 1920: Sir Percy Cox

(British High Commissioner)

After 1920: Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani

Iraqi War of Independence
(1920)
Iraqi rebels United Kingdom British victory 6,00010,000 2,0504,000 None
Ikhwan revolt (1927-1930)  Hejaz and Nejd

 United Kingdom

 Ikhwan Allied victory 2,000 killed in total Faisal I of Iraq Faisal bin Sultan
Yazidi Revolt (1935) Kingdom of Iraq Yazidi tribes Revolts suppressed
  • Sinjar mountains put under military control
 ?  ? Ghazi of Iraq Ali Jawdat al-Ayyubi
Iraqi Shia Revolts
(19351936)
Kingdom of Iraq Iraqi Shia tribesmen
Ikha Party
Revolts suppressed ~500
Iraqi Coup D'état
(1941)
Iraq Golden Square Golden Square victory  ? Faisal II of Iraq Taha al-Hashimi
Anglo-Iraqi War
(1941 WWII)
 Iraq (Golden Square)
Military support:
 Germany
 Italy
 Vichy France

 United Kingdom

Iraq (Abd Al-Ilah loyalists) Air and naval support:
 Australia
 New Zealand
Greece

Allied victory
  • Rebellion suppressed
~500  ? Sherif Sharaf Rashid Ali al-Gaylani
Barzani Revolt
(19431945)
Kingdom of Iraq Barzani tribesmen
Allied Kurdish tribes
Iraqi victory
  • Revolt suppressed
 ? Faisal II of Iraq Nuri al-Said
Al-Wathbah Uprising (1948) Iraqi Police Student Cooperation Committee (communists)
Progressive Democrats

Populists
Kurdish Democrats
Student wings of the National Democratic Party and the Independence Party

Victory
  • Restoration of order
  • More demonstrations in spring 1948
300–400 Mohammad Hassan al-Sadr
First Arab–Israeli War
(19481949)
Defeat  ? None Muzahim al-Pachachi
14 July Revolution
(1958)
Arab Federation

Supported by:
 Kingdom of Jordan

Free Officers
  • 19th Brigade
  • 20th Brigade
Free Officers Victory ~100 Nuri al-Said
Mosul Uprising
(1959)
Iraqi Government
Arab nationalists
Supported by:
 United Arab Republic
 United States
Attempted coup fails 2,426 Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i Abd al-Karim Qasim
First Iraqi–Kurdish War
(19611970)
Before 1968:
Iraq
Syria (1963)
Supported by:
 United States (from 1963)
After 1968:
Ba'athist Iraq
KDP
Yazidis
Assyrians
Supported by:
Iran
 Israel
 United States (alleged)
Military stalemate ~10,000  ?
Ramadan Revolution
(1963)
Iraqi Government

Iraqi Communist Party

Iraqi Ba'ath Party
Supported by:
 United States
Iraqi Ba'athist victory 100
Ar-Rashid Revolt (1963) Iraqi Government Iraqi Communist Party
Iraqi Army
Coup attempt defeated
  • Revolt suppressed
1+ Abdul Salam Arif Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
November coup d'état (1963) Ba'athists Nasserists Nasserist victory 250
Six-Day War
(1967)
Egypt
 Syria
 Jordan
Iraq
Minor involvement:
 Lebanon
 Israel Defeat 10 None Abdul Rahman Arif Abdul Rahman Arif
17 July Revolution Iraqi Government Iraqi Ba'ath Party
Iraqi Armed Forces

Supported by:
 United States (alleged)

Ba’ath victory Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Yom Kippur War
(1973)
 Israel Defeat 278 None Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
(19741975)
Iraq
Supported by:
 Soviet Union
KDP
Yazidis
Iran
Supported by:

 Israel
 United States

Iraqi victory
  • KDP military and strategic failure
  • Peshmerga fighting ability destroyed
  • KDP–Iraq cease-fire
  • Failed PUK low-level insurgency
  • Iran withdrew its support for KDP
  • 1975 Algiers Agreement
  • Iraqi government reinstates full control over Kurdish-majority territories
7,000  ?
Arvand Conflict
(1974–1975)
Iraq Iran
KDP
Iranian victory
  • 1975 Algiers Agreement
  • Iraq cedes half of the Arvand River to Iran
  • Iran cedes territory around Zain al Qaws and Saif Saad to Iraq
  • Iraqi federal government reinstates full control over Kurdish-majority territories
  • Tensions between Iran and Iraq escalate into a full-scale war in 1980
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein
Iran–Iraq War
(19801988)
 Iraq

DRFLA
MEK
NCRI
PKDI
Salvation Force
Arab volunteers

 Iran

KDP
PUK
ISCI
Islamic Dawa Party
 Hezbollah
Shia volunteers

Inconclusive 105,000
375,000
~100,000
Invasion of Kuwait (1990) Iraqi Republic  State of Kuwait Iraqi victory 295+ None
Gulf War
(19901991)
 Iraq
Coalition victory 20,00035,000 3,664
1991 Iraqi uprisings
(1991)
 Government

Support:
MEK

Badr Brigades
Dawa
Government victory (Southern Front)
  • Uprising suppressed
~5,000 80,000230,000
KDP
PUK
Government Military Victory (Northern Front)
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War
(19951996)
KDP
 Iraq
KDPI
PUK
United States
Stalemate  ?
Bombing of Iraq
(1998)
 Iraq United States
 United Kingdom
Defeat
  • Much Iraqi military infrastructure destroyed
1,400(KIA or WIA)  ?
Second Sadr Uprising
(1999)
 Iraq Badr Brigades
Dawa
Government victory
  • Uprising suppressed
40+ 200+
Iraq War
(20032011)
 Iraq United States
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 Poland
Peshmerga
Defeat (Phase 1) 7,60010,800 151,000–1,033,000+
 Iraq
Peshmerga
MNFI
SCJL
Naqshbandi Army
Free Iraqi Army
al-Qaeda
ISI
Ansar al-Islam
IAI
Mahdi Army
Badr Brigades
Kata'ib Hezbollah
Government victory (Phase 2) 17,690 Jalal Talabani Nouri al-Maliki
War in Iraq (2013–2017)
(20132017)
 Iraq

Kurdistan Region

Allied groups:

Others:
 Iran
 Hezbollah
Syria


CJTF–OIR
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Canada
 Australia
 France
 Italy
 Netherlands
 New Zealand
 Finland
 Denmark

Islamic State

Naqshbandi Army (2013 –15)
Anbar Tribal Council (2013 –15)
GMCIR (2014)
Army of Pride and Dignity
Free Iraqi Army (2012–14)
Islamic Army in Iraq (2013 –14)

Government victory
  • Iraqi territorial integrity preserved
  • ISIL expelled from all strongholds in Iraq
  • ISIL genocides against Yazidis, Shias, and Christians in 2014
25,000+ 67,000+ Fuad Masum Haider al-Abadi
2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
(2017)
 Iraq Peshmerga Victory
  • Iraq defeats Peshmerga and retakes disputed territories
None None
Iraqi Insurgency
(2017–present)
 Iraq Naqshbandi Army
ISIL
Ongoing 2,254+ None
Iraqi intervention in the Syrian Civil War
(2017–2019)
ISIL Victory
  • ISIL loses remaining territory in Syria
None None Barham Salih Adil Abdul-Mahdi