US-Iraq relations since 2003

Washington: Below are key dates in the relationship between Iraq and the United States, which on Friday carried out its first air strikes on insurgents in the country since the end of its occupation.

- March 20, 2003: Washington, accusing Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction, launches its operation "Iraqi Freedom", a US-British operation to take control of the capital Baghdad.

- April 9, 2003: US forces symbolically topple a statue of dictator Saddam Hussein, signalling the end of the regime. On December 13 Saddam is captured, and is executed in late 2006.

- May 1, 2003: President George W. Bush announces the end of "major combat operations" but the "war against terrorism" continues.

- May 16, 2003: the new US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, says he and Iraqi political leaders agreed to rid the country of the remnants of the ousted Baath party.

- October 2, 2003: Washington admits no weapons of mass destruction were found.

- April 28, 2004: Photographs emerge of US forces humiliating inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, prompting global outrage.

- June 28, 2004: The US-led administration transfers power to the Iraqi government.

- November 8, 2004: More than 10,000 US and 2,000 Iraqi troops launch "Phantom Fury", a battle to retake the Sunni rebel stronghold of Fallujah, 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the west of Baghdad.

- February 22, 2006: A revered Shiite shrine in Samarra is blown up by suspected Sunni insurgents, starting a bloody sectarian war that kills tens of thousands between 2006 and 2007.

- June 7, 2006: Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi dies in a US air strike north of Baghdad.

- January 10, 2007: Bush announces a "surge" of 30,000 extra troops, bringing the total troop presence in Iraq to 165,000, a bid to stem the bloodletting.

- April 7, 2009: Newly elected US president Barack Obama, who had opposed the war in Iraq, visits Baghdad. He urges the Shiite-led government to integrate Sunnis in the political process.

- December 18, 2011: US troops complete their withdrawal, ending nearly nine years of occupation that cost the lives of more than 100,000 Iraqis and nearly 4,500 American soldiers.

- November 1, 2013: Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki visits Obama in Washington to discuss how to "push back" against Al-Qaeda after the deadliest surge of violence in the country in five years.

- August 8, 2014: Obama orders US jets strike jihadist positions in northern Iraq.