Islamic State

The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and by its Arabic acronym Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist group and a former unrecognised quasi-state. Its origins were in the Jai'sh al-Taifa al-Mansurah organization founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004, which fought alongside al-Qaeda during the Iraqi insurgency. The group gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants successfully captured large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, taking advantage of the ongoing Syrian civil war. By the end of 2015, it ruled an area with an estimated population of twelve million people, where it enforced its extremist interpretation of Islamic law, managed an annual budget exceeding US$1 billion, and commanded more than 30,000 fighters.

After a protracted and intense conflict with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, IS lost control of all its Middle Eastern territories by 2019. It subsequently reverted to insurgency tactics, operating from remote hideouts while continuing its propaganda efforts. These efforts have garnered it a significant following in northern and Sahelian Africa.

Between 2004 and 2013, IS was allied to al-Qaeda (primarily under the name "Islamic State of Iraq") and participated in the Iraqi insurgency against the American occupation. The group later changed its name to "Islamic State of Iraq and Levant" for about a year, before declaring itself to be a worldwide caliphate, called simply the Islamic State (الدولة الإسلامية, ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah). As a self-proclaimed caliphate, it demanded the religious, political, and military obedience of Muslims worldwide, despite the rejection of its legitimacy by mainstream Muslims and its statehood by the United Nations and most governments.

Over the following years, the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces pushed back the IS and degraded its financial and military infrastructure, assisted by advisors, weapons, training, supplies and airstrikes by the American-led coalition, and later by Russian airstrikes, bombings, cruise missile attacks and scorched-earth tactics across Syria, which focused mostly on razing Syrian opposition strongholds rather than IS bases. By March 2019, IS lost the last of its territories in West Asia, although it maintained a significant territorial presence in Africa as of 2023.

Designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations and others, IS was known for its massive human rights violations. During its rule in Northern Iraq, it launched a genocide against Yazidis, engaged in persecution of Christians and Shia Muslims; publicized videos of beheadings of soldiers, journalists, and aid workers; and destroyed several cultural sites. The group also perpetrated massacres in territories outside of its control in events widely described as terrorist attacks, such as the November 2015 Paris attacks.