In response to rapid territorial gains made by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ) during the first half of 2014 , and its universally-condemned executions and reported human rights abuses , many states began to intervene against it in the Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 – 2017 ) . Since the airstrikes started , ISIL has been losing ground in both Iraq and Syria . Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Iraq in ISIL-linked violence . The genocide of Yazidis by ISIL has led to the expulsion , flight and effective exile of the Yazidis from their ancestral lands in Northern Iraq . The 2016 Karrada bombing killed nearly 400 civilians and injured hundreds more . On 17 March 2017 , a US-led coalition airstrike in Mosul killed more than 200 civilians
2016 Karrada bombing
2016 Karrada bombing
Iraq