More than 4.000 civilians have been killed in Iraq this year alone. This is the highest death toll since the end of the civil war in 2007. But unlike the previous attacks, which targeted governmental institutions, these new series of attacks primarily target civilians. Equally important is the fact that most of these attacks were conducted by al-Qaeda, who's strategy it is to plunge Iraq back into a Sunni-Shia civil war, and amidst the anarchy and disunity, rise as the dominant faction. Just like what happened with the rise of jihadists in the Syrian civil war.