The 1959 flag was in turn replaced on July 31, 1963, by a version of the Arab Liberation Flag first flown in Egypt in 1952. Its horizontal stripes of red-white-black were already accepted in Egypt (Egypt, flag of), Syria (Syria, flag of), and northern Yemen (Yemen, flag of); the three green stars adopted by Iraq expressed a desire to unite with Egypt and Syria. The colours honoured a 13th-century poem by Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥilli referring to red as willingness to shed blood, green for Arab fields, black for battles, and white for purity of motives and deeds. On Jan. 14, 1991, the flag was modified by order of Pres. Ṣaddām Ḥussein through the addition of the Arabic inscription “Allāhu akbar” between the three stars on the flag, which was intended to reflect an Islamic commitment when Iraq was facing military forces determined to reverse its annexation of Kuwait.

Ṣaddām and his regime were driven from power in the spring of 2003 by a U.S.-led military coalition. On April 26, 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council announced a new national flag, its design consisting of four unequal horizontal stripes from top to bottom of white, blue, yellow, and blue and with a light blue crescent centred on the white stripe. The flag, almost universally rejected by Iraqis, was never adopted.

On June 28, 2004, the interim Iraqi government adopted a new flag, which differed from the 1991–2004 flag only in its width-to-length ratio and in the form of the script used for the inscription. On Jan. 22, 2008, the Iraqi Council of Representatives (parliament) voted to adopt a modified version of that flag: the three green stars were removed from the white stripe, and the width-to-length ratio was restored to what it had been for the 1991–2004 flag. It became official on Jan. 28.