The United States is set to declare an end to combat operations in Iraq, seven and a half years after a US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Here are some key dates since the invasion:
2003
March 20: US-led forces begin onslaught against Iraq, which they accuse of harbouring weapons of mass destruction.
April 9: US forces topple a large Saddam statue in Baghdad.
May 1: US President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations using a "Mission Accomplished" banner.
September 3: First post-Saddam cabinet sworn in.
October 2: US admits no weapons of mass destruction found.
October 16: UN Resolution 1511 legitimises the US-led occupation.
December 13: Saddam captured.
2004
April-August: Clashes between coalition forces and militiamen of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
April 28: Photographs emerge of US forces humiliating inmates at Abu Ghraib prison.
June 28: The US-led administration hands Iraqis power.
2005
January 30: Iraqis vote in the first multi-party poll in 50 years despite deadly attacks, a poll Sunni Arabs largely boycott.
April 6: Jalal Talabani becomes president, the first Kurd in the post.
December 15: The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance wins most seats in parliamentary election.
2006
February 22: Revered Shiite shrine in Samarra blown up; sectarian unrest kills 450 people.
June 7: US air strike kills Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
July: The US hands over to Iraq's security control of 18 provinces.
November 5: Saddam sentenced to death for the execution of 148 Shiites in the 1980s.
December 30: Saddam hanged.
2007
January 10: Bush sends 30,000 more troops in so-called "surge" strategy.
August 14: More than 400 people killed by suicide bombs targeting Yazidi sect.
2008
August 28: Sadr halts his militia's operations.
November 27: Parliament ratifies a security agreement setting the framework for a US troop presence beyond the end of the year.
2009
January 1: The US transfers control of Baghdad's high-security Green Zone.
February 27: President Barack Obama sets August 31, 2010 deadline for end to US combat operations.
April 30: Britain ends combat operations.
June 30: US forces quit urban areas.
August 19: Bombs kill 95 people in Baghdad, the first in a series of attacks costing more than 400 lives.
December 11-12: Iraq auctions off seven oil contracts to foreign firms, after three deals in June.
2010
January 1: US troops re-name their force "United States Forces-Iraq," from "Multi-National Forces-Iraq," after all other countries pull soldiers out.
March 7: Second parliamentary elections.
April 18: Iraqi-US strike kills Al-Qaeda in Iraq political leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and "war minister" Abu Ayub al-Masri.
May 24: The US says it has more troops in Afghanistan than Iraq.
August 17: A suicide bomber kills 59 at a Baghdad army recruitment centre.
August 19: The last US combat brigade leaves Iraq.
