The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS ) was a jihadist militant group in Iraq and Syria which existed from 2013 to 2014. Founded in 2013, the organization succeeded the Islamic State of Iraq and in 2014 took over most of northern Iraq. Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself Caliph of the "Islamic State" on 29 June 2014.
History[]
ISIS troops in a recruiting video
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was founded in 2013 by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who took over the Islamic State of Iraq after the death of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. The group, headquartered in Ar-Raqqah (near Aleppo, Syria), operated in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon, and allied with Harakat Sham al-Islam and Suqour al-Ezz. The group fought the Syrian Army, Free Syrian Army, Iraqi Army, Turkish Army, Hezbollah, and the Peshmerga, taking a role in the civil wars in both Iraq and Syria.
On 5 June 2014, ISIS launched an offensive in northern Iraq, gaining the support of many Sunnis. The Sunnis were offended by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, and most of them volunteered to join ISIS. ISIS even had propaganda videos in different languages, calling on Islamic people from across the world to join the struggle against the Iraqi and Syrian governments.
On 29 June 2014, having overrun Tikrit, Mosul, Nasiriyah, Fallujah, and Baiji, Al-Baghdadi declared himself the Caliph of the "Islamic State" and called on all Muslim extremist groups to pledge allegiance to the new caliphate. ISIS has had thousands of volunteers join them from Europe and the United States, with a famous fighter being Douglas McCain, an American man who was the third American to die for ISIS. ISIS was bombed by USAF drones as they advanced on the US embassy of Erbil, and the USA aided Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army in pushing them away from the Mosul Dam. ISIS gained notoriety for the execution of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and on 10 September 2014, President Barack Obama virtually declared war on ISIS in a State of the Union address that stated that he was forming a coalition to deal with ISIS and that he would step up bombings in Iraq. The Islamic State gained international infamy for its massacre of the Yazidi minority of Muslims in Iraq at Mount Sinjar, its destruction of Shi'ite mosques and suicide bombings against Shi'ites, its burning of Chaldean Christian churches, and other atrocities such as their beheadings of western aid workers and journalists. Soon, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries formed a coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, bombing their positions in both countries.
As the "Islamic State", the group continues to fight against the coalition of Western and Arab countries that bombs its positions from above as Iraqi, Syrian, FSA, and Kurdish forces fight it on the ground in a war that costs thousands of lives, including many civilians.