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1990 |
Iraq invades Kuwait; international community places economic sanctions on Iraq. |
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1991 |
United States launches Operation Desert Storm to free Kuwait; Iraq is subjected to a UN weapons inspection program afterward. |
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1998 |
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October 31 |
Iraq Liberation Act makes support of regime change in Iraq official US policy. |
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December 16 |
Dissatisfied with Iraqi compliance with UN Security Council resolutions and weapons inspections, the United States and the United Kingdom launch the four-day bombing campaign Desert Fox; Iraq bans weapons inspectors. |
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2002 |
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January 29 |
President Bush names Iraq a member of the “axis of evil” in his State of the Union address. |
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October 16 |
US Congress authorizes the use of armed force to defend the United States “against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.” |
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November 8 |
UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq (UN Security Council Resolution 1441). |
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2003 |
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March 17 |
United States issues ultimatum to Saddam Hussein. |
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March 20 |
United States and United Kingdom launch Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
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April 9 |
Hussein regime falls; United States establishes the Coalition Provisional Authority, to be headed by Paul Bremer, and the Iraqi Governing Council. |
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May 23 |
CPA orders de-Ba’athification and the disbanding of the Iraqi Army. |
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August 19 |
A suicide attack at the UN compound in Baghdad kills 17 people, among them Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Secretary General’s special representative to Iraq. |
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December 13 |
Saddam Hussein is captured in Tikrit. |
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2004 |
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March 31 |
Blackwater employees are killed and hung on a bridge in Fallujah. |
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April 28 |
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse become public. |
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June 28 |
United States hands sovereignty to Interim Iraqi Government headed by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi; the CPA disbands. |
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November |
Major US-led campaign against Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah. |
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2005 |
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January 30 |
Elections for Transitional National Assembly. |
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April 7 |
Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes president; Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shi’a, is named as prime minister. |
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October 15 |
Referendum approves new constitution. |
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2006 |
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February 22 |
Bombing of Shi’a mosque in Samarra unleashes a new wave of violence. |
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May 20 |
Nouri al-Maliki becomes prime minister. |
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June 7 |
AQI leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is killed in US air strike. |
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October |
Islamic State of Iraq emerges out of ongoing insurgency. |
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November 8 |
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld resigns; he is succeeded by Robert Gates. |
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December 30 |
Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity. |
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2007 |
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January 10 |
Bush announces surge, committing more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq; David Petraeus replaces George Casey as commander in Iraq; Ryan Crocker replaces Zalmay Khalilzad as chief of mission in Baghdad. |
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Fall |
Anbar Awakening spreads throughout Sunni Arab communities; violence levels reduce substantially in the fall. |
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October |
United States starts troop drawdown. |
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2008 |
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March |
Start of negotiations on Status of Forces Agreement and Strategic Framework Agreement between Iraq and United States. |
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November 27 |
SOFA and SFA are signed; US troops must leave the country by the end of 2011. |
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2009 |
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January 20 |
Obama becomes president. |
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April |
The Obama administration crafts a new strategy. |
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June |
US troops withdraw from towns and cities in Iraq. |
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2010 |
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March |
Parliamentary elections in Iraq. |
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August 31 |
Obama declares end to Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
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2011 |
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December 18 |
The last US troops leave Iraq. |
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2013 |
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January |
Pro-government protests emerge as a reaction to anti-government protests; the government uses security forces to control protests. |
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April |
The Sunni insurgency intensifies; Maliki warns of a new sectarian war. |
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May 10 |
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is appointed the new leader of ISIS. |
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2014 |
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January |
ISIS seizes control of large parts of Fallujah and Ramadi. |
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April 30 |
Iraqi parliamentary elections; Prime Minister al-Maliki fails to win a majority of seats. |
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June |
ISIS takes control of Mosul and Tikrit. Iraq officially asks United States for support. |
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June 29 |
ISIS declares a caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria. |
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2015 |
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April |
Iraqi security forces regain control of Tikrit. |
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December |
Iraqi security forces recapture Ramadi. |
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2016 |
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February 26 |
Muqtada al-Sadr leads a mass demonstration in Baghdad to protest against government corruption and the failure to deliver on reform plans. |
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June |
Iraqi security forces retake Fallujah. |
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2017 |
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July 10 |
Iraqi and militia forces recapture Mosul. |
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September 25 |
Iraqi Kurds hold a referendum on independence; more than 90 percent of voters are in favor; after Iraqi forces are deployed to Kirkuk, the Kurdish regional government agrees to “freeze” the result. |
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October 18 |
Raqqa, Syria, self-declared capital of the ISIS caliphate, is taken by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). |
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December 9 |
Iraq announces the defeat of ISIS in Iraq. |
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2019 |
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March 23 |
Syrian Democratic Forces announce the defeat of ISIS. |
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