Beginning in December 2012, Sunnis in Iraq protested against the Maliki government. On 28 December 2013, a Sunni MP named Ahmed al-Alwani was arrested in a raid on his home in Ramadi. Alwani was a prominent supporter of the anti-government protests. This incident led to violence in Al Anbar Governorate between the Iraqi Army and a loose alliance of tribal militias and other groups fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
In January 2014, the anti-government forces took control of Fallujah, and there was heavy fighting in Ramadi. In March the Iraqi army secured Ramadi and attempted to regain Fallujah. In June, ISIL launched a major offensive in Anbar in conjunction with their assault on Northern Iraq. By 23 June, they controlled at least 70% of Anbar.
Background
Prior to the campaign, Sunnis in Al Anbar Governorate, including members of the Dulaim tribe, held anti-government rallies and demonstrations from December 2012 to December 2013. The protests began on 21 December 2012 following a raid on the home of Sunni Finance Minister Rafi al-Issawi and the arrest of 10 of his bodyguards. The protests were driven by Sunnis who felt marginalized in post-Saddam Iraq, and who claimed that anti-terrorism laws were being abused and used to arrest and harass Sunnis. The growth of the protests, however, led the initial demands to be expanded, and eventually one of the main requests of the protesters was the resignation of Prime Minister Maliki. Other issues often cited were the abuse of De-Baathification laws and unfair confiscation of property of former Baathists, and Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs.
Groups involved
The tribes of Dulaim, Zoba, Al-Jumeilat, and Al-Bu Issa tribal fighters were the main component in fighting the Iraqi army.
There are several groups comprising the non-ISIL armed opposition. Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order (JRTN) were also said to be part of the Sunni opposition to the Iraqi government. The Military Council of the Tribal Revolutionaries (MCIR), the largest of the non-ISIL groups, appears to include a number of groups previously involved in the Iraqi Insurgency including the JRTN, 1920 Revolution Brigade, the Islamic Army in Iraq, the Jaish al-Rashideen, Iraqi Hamas, and the former Mujahideen Shura Council of Abdullah al-Janabi.
A second group, known as the Anbar Tribes Revolutionary Council is headed by Sheikh Ali Hatim al-Suleiman. This group, unlike the MCTR, doesn't actively advocate the overthrow of the Iraqi government but instead is limited in ambition to defending Anbar from what it sees as aggression from the Iraqi central government.
The final group is known as the Army of Pride and Dignity, although the group is distinct from the group of the same name formed by Sheikh Ali Hatem Suleiman following the 2013 Hawija clashes.
2013
December
Clashes in western Iraq began on 30 December 2013 when Iraqi security forces arrested Sunni MP Ahmed al-Alwani and clashed with some of his relatives from the Albo-alon clan of the Dulaim tribe, the largest tribe in Anbar. on the second day Iraqi security forces tore down a year-old Sunni protest camp in Ramadi. Tribal militias battled against the Iraqi Army in Ramadi and Fallujah. After the Iraqi Army withdrew from Anbar province to cool the situation on 31 December, tribal militants took over Fallujah and Karma and most of the city of Ramadi. Shortly after, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) entered some of the neighborhoods of Ramadi and other parts of Anbar. Following the arrival of ISIL, some tribal militias allied themselves with ISIL forces.
On 30 December 2013, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that Iraqi Army soldiers would depart to restive cities in Anbar province, but reversed that decision the following day.
2014
January–February – Fall of Fallujah and the Battle of Ramadi
Army forces, as of 2 January, remained outside Ramadi. On 3 January, al-Qaeda-linked militants took over several police stations in Fallujah. In the early morning, tribal and ISIL fighters advanced into areas in central Ramadi and deployed snipers on one street, a police captain said. A police colonel said the army had re-entered into areas of Fallujah, between Ramadi and Baghdad, but that around a quarter of it remained under ISIL and tribal control. However, another senior officer, a police lieutenant colonel, said that while soldiers had been deployed around the city, they had yet to enter Fallujah. More than 100 people were killed during the day as Iraqi police and tribesmen battled militants.