2012–13 Iraqi protests

Two more demonstrators were killed in southern Iraq, officials said, as protests against unemployment spread on July 14 from the port city of Basra to other parts of the country including Baghdad. 

"Ten years ago, the Americans helped Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province west of Baghdad form the 'Awakening' movement to defeat a previous incarnation of violent fundamentalist Islam - al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki, who was widely criticised for sectarian policies during his time as premier, said Jan. 4 that politicians are to blame for the country's Sunni-Shiite strife.