Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)
The Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) began on 4 June 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, assisted by various insurgent groups in the region, began a major offensive from its territory in Syria into Iraq against Iraqi and Kurdish forces, following earlier clashes that had begun in December 2013 involving guerillas.
| Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War in Iraq | |||||||||
Map of the offensive | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Syria (limited involvement) Supported by: Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) |
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Nouri al-Maliki Masoud Barzani |
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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250,000 federal soldiers 190,000 Kurdish peshmerga | Islamic State: 7,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Iraq: 2,452 killed (1,566 executed) 90,000 deserted Iran: 4 killed 1,900 captured |
Islamic State: 3,106 killed | ||||||||
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1,235–1,265 civilians killed (by 25 June)
1,000,000+ displaced 95 Turkish civilians taken prisoner | |||||||||
The Islamic State 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 forces took control of the oil hub of Kirkuk, part of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq.
The Islamic State called the battles of Mosul and Saladin Governorate "the Battle of the Lion of God al-Bilawi" (Arabic: غزوة أسد الله البيلاوي), in honor of Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi.
A former commander of the Iraqi ground forces, Ali Ghaidan, accused Former Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki of being the one who issued the order to withdraw from the city of Mosul.
By late June, the Iraqi government had lost control of its borders with both Jordan and Syria. Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki called for a national state of emergency on 10 June following the attack on Mosul, which had been seized overnight. However, despite the security crisis, Iraq's parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many Sunni Arab and Kurdish legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister's powers.