The Battle for Iraq
Iraq has been plunged into its worst violence since the peak of a sectarian civil war in 2006-2007, with Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State overrunning large parts of the west and north.
Updated 19 August, 2014
Iraq Kurds retake Mosul Dam
With the help of U.S. air strikes, Iraqi and Kurdish forces recaptured Iraq's biggest dam — a vital strategic asset — from Islamist militants on Monday.
Mosul Dam
Built in 1986 on the Tigris River, the Mosul Dam is the largest in Iraq. It covers an area of 380 square km and can store up to 11.1 billion cubic meters of water. Safety has been a concern among experts who say the foundation lays on weak soluble geologic materials.
Areas of control
Territorial gains of the Islamic State as it seeks to establish a power base straddling Syria and Iraq.
Civilian casualties
According to estimates compiled by Iraq Body Count, more than 140,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed by violence since 2003. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) began releasing casualty estimates in November 2012.
Iraq's displaced
Violence between armed groups and government forces in Iraq has displaced more than 1 million Iraqis from their homes, a third of them from Anbar, according to the United Nations.
Data as of 13 August, 2014.
No figures available for Muthanna governorate.
Satellite images by LandSat/Google Earth (2013)
Sources: Iraq Ministry of Water Resources; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Iraq Body Count; United Nations Iraq; Institute for the Study of War; M. Izady – Gulf/2000 Project, Columbia University; Kurdistan Regional Government; Reuters.
Graphics by Christine Chan, Wen Foo and Christian Inton