List of conflicts in Iraq explained

This is a list of conflicts in Iraq arranged chronologically from ancient to modern times. This list includes any raid, strike, skirmish, siege, sacking, and/or battle (land, naval, and air) that occurred on the territories of what may today be referred to as Iraq; however, in which the conflict itself may have only been part of an operation of a campaign in a theater of a greater war (e.g. any and/or all border, undeclared, colonial, proxy, liberation, global wars, etc.). There may also be periods of violent, civil unrest listed; such as, shootouts, spree killings, massacres, terrorist attacks, coups, assassinations, regicides, riots, rebellions, revolutions, and civil wars (as well as wars of succession and/or independence). The list might also contain episodes of human sacrifice, mass suicide, and ethnic cleansing/genocide.

Ancient times (c. 3300 BCE – c. 651 CE)

Approximated datesName of conflictBelligerents
Victorious parties
(if applicable)
Defeated parties
(if applicable)
Early Dynastic period
Sumer–Elam war
  • Sumerians
  • Elamites
Siege of Uruk
Part of Mesopotamia Early Dynastic Period wars
  • Urukians (Sumerians)
Umma–Lagash war
  • Ummaites (Sumerians)
Battle of Uruk
Part of the Conquests of Sargon of Akkad
  • Urukians (Sumerians)
Neo-Assyrian period
693 BCEBattle of Diyala River
Part of the Campaigns of Sennacherib
  • Babylonians (Semites)
689 BCESiege of Babylon
Part of the Campaigns of Sennacherib
Neo-Babylonian period
626 BCERevolt of Babylon
Part of the Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire
  • Babylonians (Semites)
616 BCEBattle of Arrapha
Part of the Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire
  • Babylonians (Semites)
  • Medians
614 BCEFall of Assur
Part of the Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire
  • Medians
612 BCEBattle of Nineveh
Part of the Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire
Achaemenid period
September 539 BCEBattle of Opis
Part of the Persian conquest of Babylonia
  • Babylonians (Semites)
1 October 331 BCEBattle of Gaugamela
Part of the Wars of Alexander the Great
Hellenistic period
May–August 311 BCEFirst Siege of Babylon
Part of the Wars of the Diadochi and Babylonian War
  • Seleucids
  • Antigonids
311 BCEBattle of the Tigris
Part of the Wars of the Diadochi and Babylonian War
310 BCESecond Siege of Babylon
Part of the Wars of the Diadochi and Babylonian War
January–March 309 BCEThird Siege of Babylon
Part of the Wars of the Diadochi and Babylonian War
  • Antigonids
  • Seleucids
10 August 309 BCEBattle of the 25 of Abu
Part of the Wars of the Diadochi and Babylonian War
  • Seleucids
  • Antigonids
Roman period
198 CEBattle of Ctesiphon
Part of the Roman–Parthian Wars
  • Parthians
217 CEBattle of Nisibis
Part of the Roman–Parthian Wars
  • Parthians
243 CEBattle of Resaena
Part of the Roman–Persian Wars
Winter of 244 CEBattle of Misiche
Part of the Roman–Persian Wars
252 CEBattle of Barbalissos
Part of the Roman–Persian Wars
Spring 260 CEBattle of Edessa
Part of the Roman–Persian Wars

Medieval times (c. 651 – c. 1517 CE)

Approximated datesName of conflictBelligerents
Victorious parties
(if applicable)
Defeated parties
(if applicable)
8 December 656 CEBattle of the Camel
Part of the First Islamic Civil War
  • Forces of Ali
  • Forces of Aisha
17 July 658 CEBattle of Nahrawan
Part of the First Islamic Civil War
10 October 680 CEBattle of Karbala
Part of the Second Islamic Civil War
  • Husayn ibn Ali and his partisans
Mid-October 691 CEBattle of Maskin
Part of the Second Islamic Civil War
  • Zubayrid Caliphate
744–750 CEThird Islamic Civil War
25 January 750 CEBattle of the Zab
Part of the Abbasid Revolution
September 762 – February 763 CEAlid Revolt
August 812 – 28 September 813 CESiege of Baghdad
Part of the Fourth Islamic Civil War
  • Forces of al-Ma'mun
  • Forces of al-Amin

Modern times (c. 1517 CE – Present)

Ottoman empire (c. 1517 – c. 1917 CE)

Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (c. 1917 – c. 1920 CE)

Kingdom of Iraq (c. 1932 – c. 1958 CE)

Ba'athist Iraq (c. 1968 – c. 2003 CE)

Coalition Provisional Authority (c. 2003 – c. 2004 CE)

Republic of Iraq (c. 2004 CE – Present)

See also