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Motto: Bqiyah wa-Tatamaddad "Remaining and Expanding" [1] Anthem: Ummat, qad lha fajrun "My Nation, Dawn Has Appeared"[2][3] Administrative center Ar-Raqqah, Syria (de facto)[4][5] 3557N 391E / 35.950N 39.017E / 35.950; 39.017 Largest city Mosul, Iraq Ideologies Sunni Islamism Salafism Salafist Jihadism Type Rebel group controlling territory Military strength & operation areas Inside Iraq and Syria 200,000[9] (Kurdish claim) 20,00031,000 (CIA estimate) Outside Iraq and Syria 19,50031,300 (See Military of ISIL for more-detailed estimates.) Leaders - Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi [10] - Deputy leader in Iraq Abu Muslim al-Turkmani [11][12] - Deputy leader in Syria Abu Ali al-Anbari[12] - Head of Military Shura Abu Ayman al-Iraqi[13] - Spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani[14][15] - Field commander Abu Omar al-Shishani[16][17][18] Establishment - Formation (as Jamat al-Tawd wa-al-Jihd) 1999[19] - Joined al-Qaeda October 2004 - Declaration of an Islamic state in Iraq 13 October 2006 - Claim of territory in the Levant 8 April 2013 - Separated from al-Qaeda[20][21] 3 February 2014[22] - Declaration of "Caliphate" 29 June 2014 - Claim of territory in Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen 13 November 2014 Area - Estimate only of controlled areas 32,133km2[23] 12,407sqmi Population - 12 June 2014 The New York Timesestimate 8,000,000 in controlled areas[24] Time zone Eastern European Time and Arabia Standard Time (UTC+2 and +3)

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL //) is an Islamist rebel group that controls territory in Iraq and Syria and also operates in eastern Libya, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, and other areas of the Middle East,[25]North Africa, South Asia,[26] and Southeast Asia.[26][27] The group's Arabic name is transliterated as ad-Dawlah al-Islmyah f al-Irq wash-Shm leading to the Arabic acronym Daish or DAESH. The name is also commonly translated as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and abbreviated ISIS (//). In June 2014 the group renamed itself the Islamic State (IS) but the new name has been widely criticized and condemned, with the UN, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups refusing to use it.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]

The United Nations has held ISIL responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a "historic scale". The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, India, and Russia. Over 60 countries are directly or indirectly waging war against ISIL.

The group originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which was renamed Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayncommonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)when the group pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, AQI took part in the Iraqi insurgency. In 2006, it joined other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council, which shortly afterwards proclaimed the formation of an Islamic state, naming it the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). The ISI gained a significant presence in Al Anbar, Nineveh, Kirkuk and other areas, but around 2008, its violent methods, including suicide attacks on civilian targets and the widespread killing of prisoners, led to a backlash from Sunni Iraqis and other insurgent groups.[a]

The group grew significantly under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and after entering the Syrian Civil War, it established a large presence in Sunni-majority areas of Syria within the governorates of Ar-Raqqah, Idlib, Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo.[37] Having expanded into Syria, the group changed its name in April 2013 to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, when al-Baghdadi announced its merger with the Syrian-based group al-Nusra Front. The group remained closely linked to al-Qaeda until February 2014, when after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with ISIL, citing its failure to consult and "notorious intransigence".[22][38]

On 29 June 2014, the group proclaimed itself to be a worldwide caliphate under the name "Islamic State",[39][40] and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named its "caliph".[41] As caliphate it claims religious, political and military authority over all Muslims worldwide and that "the legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organizations, becomes null by the expansion of the khilfah's (caliph's) authority and arrival of its troops to their areas".[42][43] This is while ISIL's actions have been widely criticized around the world, with many Islamic and non-Islamic communities judging the group to be unrepresentative of Islam.[44]

ISIL is known for its well-funded web and social media propaganda, which includes Internet videos of the beheadings of soldiers, civilians, journalists, and aid workers.see 2014 ISIL beheading incidents.

Outline of history with links to content below

The group has had various names since it was established.[45]

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Jordanian Salafi Jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his militant group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, founded in 1999, achieved notoriety in the early stages of the Iraq insurgency, by not only carrying out attacks on coalition forces but conducting suicide attacks on civilian targets and beheading hostages.[19][65]

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