The Sons of Iraq (Arabic: أبناء العراق Abnāʼ al-ʻIrāq), also known as al-Sahwah (Arabic: الصحوة, lit. 'the awakening'), were a coalition in the Al Anbar province in Iraq between Sunni tribal leaders as well as former Saddam-era Iraqi military officers that united in 2005 to maintain stability in their communities. A moderate group, they were initially sponsored by General Petraeus and the US military.

After arriving into power, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki relied on sectarian policies to consolidate his power. Maliki denounced the Sons of Iraq as a national threat, actively dismantling them and refusing to integrate them into Iraqi security services. Sunnis formerly serving with the group were faced with options including becoming unemployed or joining the Islamic State. This turn of events is considered a key factor that contributed to the failure of Iraq to stabilize, ultimately leading to the War in Iraq (2013-17).

The Sons of Iraq were also known by numerous names:

Awakening movements in Iraq are also referred to as:

The movement started among Sunni tribes in Anbar Province in 2005 to become an ad hoc armed force across the country in less than a year.

The Awakening fighters in Iraq were credited by many independent analysts with reducing levels of violence in the areas in which they operated; however, the rapid growth of the groups, whose salaries were initially paid for completely by the US military, also led to concerns about allegations of some members' past activities fighting against coalition forces and concerns of infiltration by al-Qaeda. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned that the US-armed 'concerned local citizens' were an armed Sunni opposition in the making, and argued that such groups should be under the command of the Iraqi Army or police.

In 2009, Iraqi Defense Ministry disbanded the Sunni Awakening groups so they would not become a separate military force. Later that year, some Awakening groups threatened to set the streets ablaze and "start a tribal war" after not doing well in elections.

In 2005, the Albu Mahals, a tribe that smuggled foreign fighters and material across the Syria–Iraq border, was being forced out of their territory by the Al Salmani tribe allied with al-Qaeda in Iraq. The tribe proposed an alliance with the local USMC Battalion under the command of LtCol Dale Alford in November 2005, after being forcibly displaced from their traditional base in Al-Qa'im, and began receiving weapons and training. From August to December 2006, the Anbar Province of Iraq was occupied by Al Qaeda (AQI). Much of the stronghold of AQI was in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province. The sheikhs and officials were Sunni by sect, so they initially cooperated with AQI to counterbalance the Shiite government and the Shiite insurgents. But later, the terrorism which AQI promoted was not in line with the Sheik's interests. They then joined forces with the US troops in the area, the Iraqi Police and the Provisional Army. They strengthened the city council and dubbed their movement the "awakening". The US and the Iraqi people later gained control of Fallujah and Ramadi. This movement was one of the shining symbols of counterinsurgency policy—rhetoric of the New Way surge policy which George W. Bush outlined in his State of the Union address marked this as the ideal of counterinsurgency. The six points which Bush outlined were met; the people were united to save their city and the US forces gained support of both the officials and citizens.