The war in Iraq can be divided into three distinct stages. In the first stage, US and coalition forces quickly advanced on Baghdad. The regime of Saddam Hussein quickly fell and the US began to administer Iraq directly. The second stage has lasted from the middle of April 2003 until 2006. In that time the US helped the Iraqis elect there own government. In the meantime, US forces were attacked both by supporters of the old regime as well as groups affiliated with Al Queda. To make matters worse violence soon developed between the Shites and Sunnis in Iraq. At this point, Iraq seemed to be falling apart at the seams. In 2007 the US announced a troops surge. During the surge, the violence went down. The next stage was the period of the US withdrawals which began in 2009. The US turned over the Green Zone in Baghdad. The last US forces departed Iraq in December 2011. The war did not end then and it continued with a new factor ISIS who captured large parts of Iraq in 2015. By the end of 2017 with the help of US air power and Iranian militia, ISIS was defeated. The long-term result of the war has been that Iraq is under clear Iranian influence.