Iraqi Armed Forces

The Iraqi Armed Forces (القوات المسلحة العراقية romanized: Al-Quwwat Al-Musallahah Al-Iraqiyyah) (Kurdish: هێزە چەکدارەکانی عێراق) are the military forces of the Republic of Iraq. They consist of the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Air Force, and the Iraqi Navy. Along with these three primary service branches, there exists the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service. The President of Iraq acts as the supreme commander as outlined by the constitution. The armed forces of Iraq have a long history but generally politicized and unsuccessful history. They were initially formed in the early 1920s. Six military coup d'états were mounted by the Army between 1936 and 1941. The armed forces first saw combat in the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941. They fought against Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, in the 1967 Six-Day War, and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Two wars with the Kurds were fought from 1961 to 1970 and in 1974–1975. A much larger conflict was the Iran–Iraq War, initiated by the Iraqis in 1980, which continued until 1988. Thereafter Iraq began the invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War of 1991, which led in turn to confrontations over the Iraqi no-fly zones during the 1990s, and finally the Iraq War of 2003. Logistics and combat engineering have been traditional strong points. Iraqi soldiers have also usually fought hard in difficult situations. The armed forces are administered by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which toppled the Saddam Hussein regime, the Iraqi Armed Forces received substantial assistance from the United States Armed Forces. Since the implementation of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement on January 1, 2009, the Iraqi Armed Forces and the forces of the Iraqi interior ministry are responsible for providing security and upholding law and order throughout most of Iraq. The Iraqi Army was historically one of the more competent militaries in the Arab world. However, during Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and interference in military organization, the competence of the Army severely declined.