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).

[23] 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.

[24] The tribes of Dulaim, Zoba, Al-Jumeilat, and Al-Bu Issa tribal fighters were the main component in fighting the Iraqi army.

[2] 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.

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.

In the early morning, tribal and ISIL fighters advanced into areas in central Ramadi and deployed snipers on one street, a police captain said.

[32] The Iraqi Army also shelled Fallujah with mortars to try to wrest back control from the militants and tribesmen, killing at least eight people, according to unnamed tribal leaders and officials.

[33] On 3 January ISIL began distributing leaflets announcing a new "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" whose purpose was to enforce the group's strict Islamic code, similar to how the city was governed from 2005 to 2006 under the Mujahideen Shura Council.

During the appearance about 200 masked militants using looted police vehicles guarded the road leading to the mosque, where worshippers were checked for weapons before Janabi's sermon at weekly prayers.

[35] On the same day, unidentified gunmen also killed seven police officers, including a captain, in an attack at a security checkpoint on a highway north of the city of Samarra.

[40] On 8 January, an unnamed Iraq police captain confirmed that an overnight offensive by security forces and tribal fighters aimed at dislodging ISIL from south Ramadi was repulsed by the insurgents after seven hours of heavy fighting.

[41] On 9 January, Iraqi security forces, backed by tanks, engaged in heavy fighting with ISIL militants in the Albubali area, between Ramadi and Fallujah.

[citation needed] On 17 January, the ISIL militants in Fallujah called on people to join them in their fight against the government, but earlier in the day, Iraqi media reported that security forces had retaken several key areas of Ramadi.

[48] On 21 January, the Iraqi army, backed by Sunni tribesmen, continued to attack key neighbourhoods of Ramadi in attempt to retake control from ISIL.

[51] On 30 January, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad al-Askari said that security forces and their allied tribal fighters regained control of Albu Farraj, north of Ramadi, as well as Al-Nasaf, on the western outskirts of Fallujah; he called these areas an "important base" for ISIL.

[citation needed] On 3 February, the Ministry of Defence reported that the Iraqi army and its allied tribesmen killed 57 ISIL militants in advance of a possible assault on Fallujah, which was held by the rebels.

[57] On 15 February, the Iraqi Joint Command announced that during a raid in the al-Milahma, Albu Shihab and Khalidiya areas several ISIL members were killed.

[60] On 28 February, a bomb attack in Haditha killed the pro-government Sunni tribal Sheikh and councilman Fleih al-Osman and six of his fighters, while five civilians were wounded, according to police chief Colonel Farouq al-Jughaifi.

[63] On 7 May, reports emerged that Iraqi Security forces were planning a major strike to reclaim territories in Fallujah, Garma, Duwylieba and Jurf al-Sakhar.

[65] On 9 May, the military launched its offensive[66] and by 18 May, security forces regained control of the international expressway east of Fallujah and captured 16 villages and towns around the city.

[68] On 7 June, gunmen linked to ISIL took students at the University of Anbar hostage after killing a number of guards and destroying "a bridge leading to the main gate.

However, the convoy of 60 trucks and hundreds of border police were thrown into disarray and panic when a small force of ISIL vehicles attacked them en route.

[citation needed] On 19 June, ISIL captured Hussein's Al Muthanna Chemical Weapons Facility near Lake Tharthar, roughly 45 miles northwest of Baghdad, in an area which had firmly come under rebel control by this point.

[78] The next morning, ISIL forces captured the Al Jazeera Command Center in the town of Rasa[79] and two new border crossings, one with Syrian and one with Jordan.

[81] On 24 June, Syrian warplanes struck several areas in Western Iraq, killing at least 57 civilians, in what US officials claimed were strikes on ISIL positions.

[86] On 23 October, ISIL militants seized the Iraqi village of Albu Nimr, after overcoming weeks of fierce resistance by its namesake Sunni tribe.