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On August 19, ISIS released its first video in response to the U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq. The video showed the beheading of a U.S. journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012.
President Obama stated that the Mosul Dam was retaken and cleared by Iraqi forces with U.S. air support.
Iraqi Kurdish officials announced that the Peshmerga cleared ISIS from the Mosul Dam but added that ISIS rigged some buildings with explosives.
The Peshmerga launched a counter offensive in northern Iraq against ISIS.
On August 14, 2014 ISIS clashed with the military wing of the Sadrist movement, the Promised Day Brigade (PDB), now called the Peace Companies, west of Samarra.
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s (ISIS) assault on the city of Mosul on June 10, 2014 demonstrated its formidable military strength. ISIS’s activities across Iraq and Syria also reveal that the organization is engaged in governance programs, ranging from Shari’a courts to aid distribution and law enforcement. These efforts underscore ISIS’s desire to erect a functional Caliphate within the boundaries of its controlled territory. That effort requires political and religious control in addition to military victory, and ISIS has a vision for how the Caliphate will form. ISIS has begun to explain its grand strategy to achieve this end through extensive public outreach, including a digital magazine series entitled Dabiq. This backgrounder will examine the contents of the first issue of Dabiq in detail, explaining the significance of this strategic messaging approach by ISIS in conjunction with the announcement of a Caliphate.
Nouri al-Maliki announced he would step down and support Haider al-Abadi’s nomination as Prime Minister, ending the political crisis that intensified on August 10, 2014 and existentially threatened Iraq’s political system.
ISIS and the Peshmerga continue to challenge one another for territorial control along the Kurdish internal boundaries in northern and eastern Iraq.
The sub-district of Jalula was reported to be taken by ISIS after launching a major assault that pushed the Peshmerga out of the area.
Baghdad security has become a heightened concern given the uncertain leadership of the Iraqi Security Forces.