Country Report on Terrorism 2019 - Chapter 4 - Iraq

Iraq.  Iran-backed Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), a designated FTO, continued to maintain an active presence in Iraq targeting U.S., Coalition, and Iraqi forces.  On December 27, KH launched a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base near Kirkuk, killing an American civilian contractor and wounding several U.S. military service members and Iraqi personnel.  In response, on December 29, the United States carried out military strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting KH.  On December 31, Iran-backed terrorists attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, resulting in no casualties but damaging the embassy exterior.

Supported by the 81-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the Government of Iraq maintained nominal control of the territory retaken from ISIS in 2019.  ISIS remained a terrorist threat in Iraq in 2019, carrying out suicide, hit-and-run, and other asymmetric attacks throughout the country.  The United States continued to engage with the Government of Iraq to deny ISIS access to CBRN materials.  The United States worked to strengthen the expertise and ability of Iraq’s government, academic institutions, and private sector to secure weaponizable chemical and biological materials and to detect, disrupt, and respond effectively to suspected CBRN activity.  This included providing CBRN detection, analysis, and investigation training at internationally recognized training centers of excellence, such as the Defense CBRN Center in Vught, Netherlands, and the National Institute for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Protection in the Czech Republic.  The United States and Iraq also continued their bilateral partnership to counter nuclear smuggling under the framework of the 2014 Joint Action Plan on Combating Nuclear and Radioactive Materials Smuggling.