Iraq, in an area once home to some of the earliest civilisations, became a battleground for competing forces after the US-led ousting of President Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Shia-led government struggled to restore order until a "surge" of US troops in late 2007 began to push insurgents and militias out of cities and provinces they had long contested.
The country remains highly volatile, and disputes with the autonomous Kurdistan Region over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk have threatened to derail progress towards political stability.
Overview
Insurgents regularly target civilians as well as security forces. Tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims have spilled over into brutal sectarian violence.
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AT-A-GLANCE
Politics: Iraq has been the battleground for forces vying for power since the US-led invasion of 2003
Security: Unity government and US-led coalition forces are making progress in establishing control; thousands of civilians have been killed and security forces are under constant threat from well-organised rebels
Economy: Violence and sabotage hinder efforts to revive an economy shattered by decades of conflict and sanctions; Iraq has the world's third largest reserves of crude oil but attacks, corruption and smuggling have crippled exports
| In 2007 US troop levels were increased by 30,000, as commanders tried a military "surge" to stamp out resistance. The number of attacks had declined by year's end.
By the end of 2007, almost 4,000 coalition troops, and many thousands more Iraqi civilians, had been killed since the start of the military action.
American missiles hit targets in Baghdad in the early hours of 20 March 2003, marking the start of the campaign to remove the Iraqi leader.
US and British ground forces entered from the south, with the leadership in Baghdad remaining defiant. By 9 April US forces had advanced into central Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's grip on power had withered.
Sovereignty was transferred to an interim government in June 2004 and six months later Iraqis voted in the first multi-party elections in 50 years.
Cradle of civilisation
Straddling the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and stretching from the Gulf to the Anti-Taurus Mountains, modern Iraq occupies roughly what was once ancient Mesopotamia, one of the cradles of human civilisation.
In the Middle Ages Iraq was the centre of the Islamic Empire, with Baghdad the cultural and political capital of an area extending from Morocco to the Indian subcontinent.
Mongol invasions in the 13th century saw its influence wane, and it played a minor role in the region until independence from British control in 1932.
Following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958 and a coup in 1968, Iraq became one of the centres of Arab nationalism under the control of the ruling Baath (Renaissance) party. Oil made the country rich, and when Saddam Hussein became president in 1979 petroleum made up 95% of its foreign exchange earnings.
But the war with Iran from 1980 to 1988 and the Gulf War in 1991 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, together with the subsequent imposition of international sanctions, had a devastating effect on its economy and society. In 1991 the UN said Iraq had been reduced to a pre-industrial state; later reports described living standards as being at subsistence level.
In the post-Saddam years, attacks by insurgents on Iraq's oil infrastructure have cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenues.
In the north, the Kurdish community has broken away to create a semi-autonomous region of its own. | 
