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92-477: In 2006, during the Iraqi civil war , the largely middle- and upper-class and mixed Shia - Sunni neighborhood of Al-Adel was taken over by militants linked to Al-Qaeda , forcing many Shiite residents to leave. It was also the site of the kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll in 2006, and of the residence of Adnan al-Dulaimi , a Sunni leader implicated in the kidnapping. Many displaced residents were able to return in

184-511: A Caliphate , IS borrowed the idea of restoration of a global Caliphate. Although the religious character of IS is mostly Wahhabi, it departs from the Wahhabi tradition in four critical aspects: dynastic alliance, call to establish a global caliphate, sheer violence, and apocalyptism. IS did not follow the pattern of the first three Saudi states in allying the religious mission of the Najdi ulema with

276-414: A caliphate , an Islamic state led by a group of religious authorities under a supreme leader – the caliph – who is believed to be the successor to Muhammad . In June 2014, ISIL published a document in which it claimed to have traced the lineage of its leader al-Baghdadi back to Muhammad, and upon proclaiming a new caliphate on 29 June, the group appointed al-Baghdadi as its caliph. As caliph, he demanded

368-415: A suicide vest , deliberately killing both himself and two children who had been living in the compound prior to the assault. U.S. President Donald Trump stated in a televised announcement that Baghdadi had, in fact, died during the operation and that American forces used support from helicopters, jets and drones through airspace controlled by Russia and Turkey. He said that "Russia treated us great... Iraq

460-552: A U.S.-led raid in Syria. In 2014, The Wall Street Journal estimated that eight million people lived in the Islamic State. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has stated that IS "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey". Civilians, as well as the Islamic State itself, have released footage of some of

552-458: A cabinet of senior leaders, while its operations in Iraq and Syria are controlled by local 'emirs,' who head semi-autonomous groups which the Islamic State refers to as its provinces. Beneath the leaders are councils on finance, leadership, military matters, legal matters (including decisions on executions) foreign fighters' assistance, security, intelligence and media. In addition, a shura council has

644-798: A caliphate, IS 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. Designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and others, IS—during its rule in northern Iraq—launched genocides against Yazidis and Iraqi Turkmen ; engaged in persecution of Christians , Shia Muslims , and Mandaeans ; publicised videos of beheadings of soldiers, journalists, and aid workers; and destroyed several cultural sites . The group has also perpetrated terrorist massacres in territories outside of its control, such as

736-527: A common cause against the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad and the U.S. occupation. Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the mosque was severely damaged and the bombing resulted in violence over the following days. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found the next day, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of this attack the U.S. military calculated that

828-556: A criticism of the President's Address to the Nation by George W. Bush's on 10 January 2007. Edward Wong on 26 November 2006 paraphrased a report from a group of American professors at Stanford University that the insurgency in Iraq amounted to the classic definition of a civil war . An unclassified summary of the 90-page January 2007 National Intelligence Estimate , titled Prospects for Iraq's Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead , states

920-527: A disadvantage to foreign members, with some native Syrian fighters resenting "favouritism" allegedly shown towards foreigners over pay and accommodation. In August 2016, media reports based on briefings by Western intelligence agencies suggested that IS had a multilevel secret service known in Arabic as Emni , established in 2014, that has become a combination of an internal police force and an external operations directorate complete with regional branches. The unit

1012-506: A grinding conflict with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, IS lost control of all its Middle Eastern territories by 2019, subsequently reverting to insurgency from remote hideouts while continuing its propaganda efforts . These efforts have garnered a significant following in northern and Sahelian Africa, where IS still controls a significant territory. Originating in the Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004,

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1104-526: A holy site in Twelver Shi'ism . US President George W. Bush and Iraqi officials accused Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) of orchestrating the bombing. AQI publicly denied any links. The incident set off a wave of attacks on Sunni civilians by Shia militants, followed by attacks on Shia civilians by Sunni militants. The UN Secretary General stated in September 2006 that if patterns of discord and violence continued,

1196-447: A hybrid of Salafism , Salafi jihadism , Islamic fundamentalism , Wahhabism , and Qutbism , as well as other doctrines. According to Robert Manne, there is a "general consensus" that the ideology of the Islamic State is "primarily based upon the writings of the radical Egyptian theoretician Sayyid Qutb ". The Muslim Brotherhood began the trend of political Islamism in the 20th century, seeking gradual establishment of

1288-477: A journalist writing on Salafi jihadism , has written that IS's goal is to "terrorize, mobilize [and] polarize". Its efforts to terrorise are intended to intimidate civilian populations and force governments of the target enemy "to make rash decisions that they otherwise would not choose". It aims to mobilise its supporters by motivating them with, for example, spectacular deadly attacks deep in Western territory (such as

1380-517: A lengthy battle that saw massive destruction to the city, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the full capture of Raqqa from IS. From 2013 to 2019, IS was headed and run by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , the Islamic State's self-styled Caliph . Before their deaths, he had two deputy leaders, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani for Iraq and Abu Ali al-Anbari (also known as Abu Ala al-Afri) for Syria, both ethnic Turkmen . Advising al-Baghdadi were

1472-477: A new Caliphate , a comprehensive Islamic society ruled by sharia law. Qutb's doctrines of jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance), hakimiyya (divine sovereignty), and takfir of entire societies formed a radicalized vision of the Muslim Brotherhood's political Islam project. Qutbism became the precursor to all jihadist thought, from Abdullah Azzam to Zawahiri and to Daesh. Alongside Sayyid Qutb,

1564-583: A potential leader or opponent". In Raqqa , after rebel forces drove out the Bashar al-Assad regime and ISIL infiltrated the town, "first dozens and then hundreds of people disappeared". Security and intelligence expert Martin Reardon has described IS's purpose as being to psychologically "break" those under its control, "so as to ensure their absolute allegiance through fear and intimidation", while generating "outright hate and vengeance" among its enemies. Jason Burke ,

1656-603: A strategy of attack outside its territory in which fighters would "Diversify and widen the vexation strikes against the Crusader-Zionist enemy in every place in the Islamic world, and even outside of it if possible, so as to disperse the efforts of the alliance of the enemy and thus drain it to the greatest extent possible." The group has been accused of attempting to "bolster morale" and distract attention from its loss of territory to enemies by staging terror attacks abroad (such as

1748-405: A target by Al Qaeda Sunnis because of conflicting theological ideas. Some Iraqi service members deserted the military or the police and others refused to serve in hostile areas. For example, some members of one sect refused to serve in neighborhoods dominated by other sects. The ethnic Kurdish soldiers from northern Iraq, who were mostly Sunnis but not Arabs, were also reported to be deserting

1840-403: A terrorism analyst and the co-founder of SITE Intelligence , noted that the alleged statement used a different font when compared to other statements and it was never distributed on Amaq or IS channels. On 29 October 2019, Trump stated on social media that al-Baghdadi's "number one replacement" had been killed by American forces, without giving a name. A U.S. official later confirmed that Trump

1932-502: A worldwide caliphate . The name "Islamic State" and the group's claim to be a caliphate have been widely rejected, with the UN, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups refusing to use the new name. The group's declaration of a new caliphate in June 2014 and its adoption of the name "Islamic State" have been criticised and ridiculed by Muslim scholars and rival Islamists both inside and outside

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2024-557: Is a transnational Salafi jihadist group. IS gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants conquered large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, taking advantage of the ongoing civil war in Syria and the disintegrating local military forces of Iraq. By the end of 2015, its self-declared caliphate ruled an area with a population of about 12 million, where they enforced their extremist interpretation of Islamic law , managed an annual budget exceeding US$ 1   billion, and commanded more than 30,000 fighters. After

2116-408: Is considered as the key inspiration for early figures of IS. Al-Muhajir's legal manual on violence, Fiqh ad-Dima ( The Jurisprudence of Jihad or The Jurisprudence of Blood ), was adopted by IS as its standard reference for justifying its extraordinary acts of violence. The book has been described by counter-terrorism scholar Orwa Ajjoub as rationalising and justifying "suicide operations,

2208-423: Is in despair. Life in many of the urban areas is now desperate. A handful of foreign fighter (500+)—and a couple thousand Al Qaeda operatives incite open factional struggle through suicide bombings which target Shia holy places and innocent civilians. ... The police force is feared as a Shia militia in uniform which is responsible for thousands of extra-judicial killings. Events: General: Films to preserve

2300-636: Is represented by the symbolism in the Black Standard variant of the legendary battle flag of Muhammad that it has adopted: the flag shows the Seal of Muhammad within a white circle, with the phrase above it, " There is no god but Allah ". This symbolism is said to symbolize IS's belief that it represents the restoration of the caliphate of early Islam , with all the political, religious and eschatological ramifications that this would imply. Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir, an Egyptian Jihadist theoretician and ideologue

2392-585: Is the main permissive cause of civil war. A poll of over 5,000 Iraqi nationals found that 27% of polled Iraqi residents agreed that Iraq was in a civil war, while 61% thought Iraq was not. Two similar polls of Americans conducted in 2006 found that between 65% and 85% believed Iraq was in a civil war. In the United States, the term has been politicized. Deputy leader of the United States Senate , Dick Durbin , referred to "this civil war in Iraq" in

2484-501: The 2016 Berlin truck attack , the 6 June 2017 attacks on Tehran , the 22 May 2017 bombing in Manchester , and the 3 June 2017 attacks in London that IS claimed credit for). IS has been described as a terrorist group adhering to Salafi jihadism . Raqqa in Syria was under IS control from 2013 and in 2014 it became the group's de facto capital city. On 17 October 2017, following

2576-654: The 23 November 2006 Sadr City bombings killed at least 215 people and injured hundreds more in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, sparking reprisal attacks, and the 3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing killed at least 135 and injured more than 300. The co-ordinated 2 March 2004 Iraq Ashura bombings (including car bombs , suicide bombers and mortar , grenade and rocket attacks) killed at least 178 people and injured at least 500. Since August 2003, suicide car bombs were increasingly used as weapons by Sunni militants, primarily al-Qaeda extremists. The car bombs, known in

2668-771: The Al Saud family , rather they consider them apostates. The call for a global caliphate is another departure from Wahhabism. The caliphate, understood in Islamic law as the ideal Islamic polity uniting all Muslim territories, does not figure much in traditional Najdi writings. Ironically, Wahhabism emerged as an anti-caliphate movement. Although violence was not absent in the First Saudi State, Islamic State's displays of beheading, immolation, and other forms of violence aimed at inspiring fear are not in imitation of early Saudi practices. They were introduced by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who took inspiration from

2760-501: The November 2015 Paris attacks ), to polarise by driving Muslim populations – particularly in the West – away from their governments, thus increasing the appeal of IS's self-proclaimed caliphate among them, and to: "Eliminate neutral parties through either absorption or elimination". Journalist Rukmini Maria Callimachi also emphasises IS's interest in polarisation or in eliminating what it calls

2852-795: The November 2015 Paris attacks , the 2024 Kerman bombings in Iran, and the 2024 Crocus City Hall attack in Russia. After 2015, the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces pushed back 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

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2944-637: The Sunni Awakening and the U.S. troop surge , violence declined dramatically. However, an insurgency by ISI continued to plague Iraq following the U.S. withdrawal in late 2011. In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , the successor to Islamic State of Iraq, launched a major military offensive against the Iraq government and declared a self-proclaimed worldwide Islamic caliphate . This led to another full-scale war from 2013 to 2017, in which

3036-410: The "grey zone" between the black (non-Muslims) and white (IS). "The gray is moderate Muslims who are living in the West and are happy and feel engaged in the society here." A work published online in 2004 entitled Management of Savagery ( Idarat at Tawahoush ), described by several media outlets as influential on IS and intended to provide a strategy to create a new Islamic caliphate, recommended

3128-433: The 'Daesh cutthroats'." Retired general John Allen , the U.S. envoy appointed to co-ordinate the coalition; U.S. Army Lieutenant General James Terry , head of operations against the group; and Secretary of State John Kerry had all shifted towards use of the term Daesh by December 2014, which nonetheless remained a pejorative in 2021. The ideology of the Islamic State , or Islamic Statism has been described as being

3220-530: The 2006–07 period of sectarian violence. On 22 February 2006, a highly provocative explosion took place at the al-Askari Mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra , one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam, believed to have been caused by a bomb planted by al-Qaeda in Iraq . With the explicit strategic goal of triggering a "sectarian war", Al-Zarqawi hoped that through such a sectarian conflict he could rally Iraq's Sunnis behind

3312-470: The Egyptian Jihadi scholar, Abu Abdallah Al Muhajir. It is the latter's legal manual on violence, popularly known as Fiqh ad-Dima (The Jurisprudence of Blood), that is the Islamic State's standard reference for justifying its acts of violence. The Islamic State's apocalyptic dimension also lacks a mainstream Wahhabi precedent. IS aims to return to the early days of Islam, rejecting all innovations in

3404-529: The End Times fill Islamic State propaganda. It's a big selling point with foreign fighters, who want to travel to the lands where the final battles of the apocalypse will take place. The civil wars raging in those countries today [Iraq and Syria] lend credibility to the prophecies. The Islamic State has stoked the apocalyptic fire. ... For Bin Laden's generation, the apocalypse wasn't a great recruiting pitch. Governments in

3496-472: The Iraqi state was in danger of breaking up. On 10 January 2007, Bush said that "80% of Iraq's sectarian violence occurs within 30 miles (48 km) of the capital. This violence is splitting Baghdad into sectarian enclaves, and shakes the confidence of all Iraqis." By late 2007, the National Intelligence Estimate described the conflict as having elements of a civil war . In 2008, during

3588-534: The Middle East two decades ago were more stable, and sectarianism was more subdued. It was better to recruit by calling to arms against corruption and tyranny than against the Antichrist. Today, though, the apocalyptic recruiting pitch makes more sense than before. Since at latest 2004, a significant goal of the group has been the foundation of a Sunni Islamic state . Specifically, ISIL has sought to establish itself as

3680-703: The Muslim lands were dealt with, according to the Islamist manual Management of Savagery . Documents found after the death of Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, a former colonel in the intelligence service of the Iraqi Air Force before the US invasion who had been described as "the strategic head" of ISIL, detailed planning for the ISIL takeover of northern Syria which made possible "the group's later advances into Iraq". Al-Khlifawi called for

3772-486: The Qur'an and Muslim traditions. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi , the first Emir of the Islamic State of Iraq , was radicalised as a Muslim Brotherhood member during his youth. Motaz Al-Khateeb states that religious texts and Islamic jurisprudence "alone cannot explain the emergence" of Daesh since the Muslim Brotherhood and Daesh "draw on the same Islamic jurisprudence" but "are diametrically opposite" in strategy and behavior. Through

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3864-536: The Salafi-jihadi movement that evolved out of the Afghan jihad. One difference between IS and other Islamist and jihadist movements, including al-Qaeda , is the group's emphasis on eschatology and apocalypticism – that is, a belief in a final Day of Judgment by God. IS believes that it will defeat the army of "Rome" at the town of Dabiq . The noted scholar of militant Islamism Will McCants writes: References to

3956-451: The U.S. invasion and the fall of Hussein, thousands of Sunnis were left without jobs, leading them to join the insurgency. Control of oil was also a factor, thanks to non-existent legislation on the dispersal of oil revenues. The use of the term "civil war" has been controversial, with a number of commentators preferring the term "civil conflict". A weak state, defined as lacking legitimacy, capacity and effective and functional institutions,

4048-514: The US Joint Special Operations Command . On 30 November 2022, IS announced that their unidentified leader had been killed in battle and named a successor, providing no additional information other than his pseudonym . A spokesman for U.S. Central Command confirmed that IS's leader had been killed in mid-October by anti-government rebels in southern Syria. On 16 February 2023, senior IS leader Hamza al-Homsi blew himself up in

4140-524: The US State Department, David Kilcullen , has said that "There undeniably would be no Isis if we had not invaded Iraq." It has been reported that Iraqis and Syrians have been given greater precedence over other nationalities within IS because the group needs the loyalties of the local Sunni populations in both Syria and Iraq in order to be sustainable. Other reports, however, have indicated that Syrians are at

4232-508: The United States to combat terrorism. Russia had previously claimed Baghdadi was killed in May 2019 by their airstrike. In September 2019, a statement attributed to IS's propaganda arm, the Amaq news agency , claimed that Abdullah Qardash was named as al-Baghdadi's successor. Analysts dismissed this statement as a fabrication, and relatives were reported as saying that Qardash died in 2017. Rita Katz ,

4324-605: The United States, Canada, Turkey, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other countries generally call the group ISIL, while much of the Arab world uses the Arabic acronym Dāʻish or Daesh. France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: "This is a terrorist group and not a state. I do not recommend using the term Islamic State because it blurs the lines between Islam, Muslims, and Islamists. The Arabs call it 'Daesh' and I will be calling them

4416-685: The allegiance of all devout Muslims worldwide according to Islamic jurisprudence ( fiqh ). ISIL has detailed its goals in its Dabiq magazine, saying it will continue to seize land and take over the entire Earth until its: Blessed flag...covers all eastern and western extents of the Earth, filling the world with the truth and justice of Islam and putting an end to the falsehood and tyranny of jahiliyyah [state of ignorance], even if America and its coalition despise such. According to German journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer , who spent ten days embedded with ISIL in Mosul ,

4508-445: The army to avoid the civil strife in Baghdad. The deserting soldiers left behind weapons, uniforms and warehouses full of heavy weaponry. Before the fall of Mosul, the ISF was losing 300 soldiers a day to desertions and deaths. For more information on events in a specific year, see the associated timeline page. Each theory summarizes and illuminates a certain set of causes that triggered

4600-512: The average homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day. Dozens of Iraqi mosques were afterwards attacked or taken over by the sectarian forces. For example, a Sunni mosque was burnt in the southern Iraqi town of Haswa on 25 March 2007, in revenge for the destruction of a Shi'a mosque in the town the previous day. In several cases, Christian churches were also attacked by the extremists. Later, another al-Askari bombing took place in June 2007. Iraq's Christian minority also became

4692-483: The current Saudi Arabian government in that category. IS believes that only a legitimate authority can undertake the leadership of jihad and that the first priority over other areas of combat, such as fighting non-Muslim countries, is the purification of Islamic society. For example, IS regards the Palestinian Sunni group Hamas as apostates who have no legitimate authority to lead jihad and see fighting Hamas as

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4784-888: The end of 2008, where the civil war had ended, there was evidence of a decrease in civilian casualties, and likewise in ethno-sectarian casualties. The commanding general of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) , Raymond Odierno, testified before the House Armed Services Committee in September 2009 that overall attacks had decreased 85% in the last two years from 4064 in August 2007 to 594 in August. 2009: with 563 attacks in September (through September 28). Bomb attacks aimed at civilians usually targeted crowded places such as marketplaces and mosques in Shi'a cities and districts. The bombings, which were sometimes co-ordinated, often inflicted extreme casualties. For example,

4876-446: The execution were distributed for propaganda purposes. The bodies were usually dumped on a roadside or in other places, several at a time. There were also several relatively large-scale massacres , like the Hay al Jihad massacre in which some 40 Sunnis were killed in a response to the car bombing which killed a dozen Shi'a. The death squads were often disgruntled Shi'a, including members of

4968-430: The first step towards confrontation by IS with Israel. Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye said: The Islamic State was drafted by Sayyid Qutb, taught by Abdullah Azzam, globalized by Osama bin Laden, transferred to reality by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and implemented by al-Baghdadis: Abu Omar and Abu Bakr. The Islamic State added a focus on sectarianism to a layer of radical views. In particular, it linked itself to

5060-448: The following regarding the use of the term "civil war": Retired United States Army General Barry McCaffrey issued a report on 26 March 2007, after a trip and analysis of the situation in Iraq. The report labeled the situation a "low-grade civil war". In page 3 of the report, he writes that: Iraq is ripped by a low-grade civil war which has worsened to catastrophic levels with as many as 3000 citizens murdered per month. The population

5152-580: The government declared victory. In October 2006, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Iraqi government estimated that more than 370,000 Iraqis had been displaced since 2006, bringing the total number of Iraqi refugees to more than 1.6 million. By 2008, the UNHCR raised the estimate to about 4.7 million (~16% of the population). The number estimated abroad

5244-613: The group adopted the name ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām ( الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام ). As al-Shām is a region often compared with the Levant or the region of Syria , the group's name has been variously translated as "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ", "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (both abbreviated as ISIS), or "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (abbreviated as ISIL). In 2014, Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah dubbed ISIS as QSIS for "al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria", arguing that ISIL does not represent

5336-429: The group from official Saudi religious beliefs. What connection, if any, there is between Salafi-Jihadism of IS and Wahhabism and Salafism proper is disputed. IS borrowed two elements of Qutbism and 20th century Islamism into its version of Wahhabi worldview. While Wahhabism shuns violent rebellion against earthly rulers, IS embraces political call to revolutions. While historically Wahhabis were not champion activists of

5428-514: The group whilst speaking amongst themselves, although—and to a certain extent because⁠—it is considered derogatory, as it resembles the Arabic words Daes ("one who crushes, or tramples down, something underfoot") and Dāhis (loosely translated as "one who sows discord"). Within areas under its control, ISIL considers use of the name Daesh punishable by flogging . In late June 2014, the group renamed itself ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah ( lit.   ' Islamic State ' or IS), declaring itself

5520-426: The hard-line ideology of al-Qaeda and many other modern-day jihadist groups. For their guiding principles, the leaders of the Islamic State ... are open and clear about their almost exclusive commitment to the Wahhabi movement of Sunni Islam. The group circulates images of Wahhabi religious textbooks from Saudi Arabia in the schools it controls. Videos from the group's territory have shown Wahhabi texts plastered on

5612-485: The infiltration of areas to be conquered with spies who would find out "as much as possible about the target towns: Who lived there, who was in charge, which families were religious, which Islamic school of religious jurisprudence they belonged to, how many mosques there were, who the imam was, how many wives and children he had and how old they were". Following this surveillance and espionage would come murder and kidnapping – "the elimination of every person who might have been

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5704-638: The last of its territories in West Asia , although its affiliates maintained a significant territorial presence in Africa as of 2024. The Islamic State, abbreviated IS, is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL / ˈ aɪ s ɪ l / ), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS / ˈ aɪ s ɪ s / ), and by its Arabic acronym Da'ish or Daesh ( داعش , Dāʿish , IPA: [ˈdaːʕɪʃ] ), and also as Dawlat al-Islam (Arabic: دولة الإسلام). In April 2013, having expanded into Syria,

5796-511: The members of its military and security committees and the majority of its emirs and princes—are former Iraqi military and intelligence officers, specifically former members of Saddam Hussein 's Ba'ath government who lost their jobs and pensions in the de-Ba'athification process after that regime was overthrown. The former Chief Strategist in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism of

5888-448: The military as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), emerged as one of the militants' most effective weapons, directed not only against civilian targets but also against Iraqi police stations and recruiting centers. These vehicle IEDs were often driven by the extremists from foreign Muslim countries with a history of militancy , such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria , Egypt , and Pakistan . Multiple suicide bombings had roughly

5980-533: The most invoked ideological figures of IS include Ibn Taymiyya , Abdullah Azzam, and Abu Bakr Naji . Although IS claims to adhere to the Salafi theology of Ibn Taymiyyah , it rejects traditional Salafi interpretations as well as the four Sunni schools of law, and anathematizes the majority of Salafis as heretics . IS ideologues rarely uphold adherence to Islamic scholarship and law manuals for reference, mostly preferring to derive rulings based on self-interpretation of

6072-442: The mutilation of corpses, beheading, and the killing of children and non-combatants." His theological and legal justifications influenced IS, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram , as well as several other jihadi terrorist groups. Numerous media outlets have compared his reference manual to Abu Bakr Naji 's Management of Savagery , widely read among IS's commanders and fighters. IS adheres to global jihadist principles and follows

6164-674: The official statement of beliefs originally released by al-Baghdadi in 2007 and subsequently updated since June 2014, ISIL defined its creed as "a middle way between the extremist Kharijites and the lax Murji'ites ". ISIL's ideology represents radical Jihadi-Salafi Islam, a strict, puritanical form of Sunni Islam . Muslim organisations like Islamic Networks Group (ING) in America have argued against this interpretation of Islam . ISIL promotes religious violence , and regards Muslims who do not agree with its interpretations as infidels or apostates . According to Hayder al Khoei, IS's philosophy

6256-427: The organisation (primarily under the Islamic State of Iraq name) affiliated itself with al-Qaeda in Iraq and fought alongside them during the 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency . The group later changed their 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

6348-521: The pro-Iranian Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was accused of being behind the killings. Iraq Body Count project data shows that 33% of civilian deaths during the Iraq War resulted from execution after abduction or capture. These were overwhelmingly carried out by unknown actors including insurgents, sectarian militias and criminals. Such killings occurred much more frequently during

6440-459: The religion, which it believes corrupts its original spirit. It condemns later caliphates and the Ottoman Empire for deviating from what it calls pure Islam and seeks to revive the original Qutbist project of the restoration of a global caliphate that is governed by a strict Salafi-Jihadi doctrine. Following Salafi-Jihadi doctrines, IS condemns the followers of secular law as disbelievers, putting

6532-441: The same target distribution as single blasts: about three-quarters of single and multiple blasts were sent against Iraqi targets. Death squad -style killings in Iraq took place in a variety of ways. Kidnapping , followed by often extreme torture (such as drilling holes in people's feet with drills ) and execution-style killings , sometimes public (in some cases, beheadings ), emerged as another tactic. In some cases, tapes of

6624-446: The sectarian civil war in Iraq since 2006. Iraq was already a weak state before the invasion in 2003, with multiple economic sanctions that affected the capacity of the Iraqi state. The Hussein regime lacked legitimacy as the people did not perceive it as a legitimate ruler at the time of the U.S. invasion. The key factor evidencing the lack of Iraqi state capacity is the inability to provide security for its inhabitants. The failure of

6716-514: The security forces, who killed Sunnis in revenge attacks they blamed the insurgency against the Shi'a-dominated government. Allegations of the existence of the death squads, made up of Shiites, and their role in executions of Sunnis, began to be promulgated when Bayan Jabr took over the Interior Ministry, although there was no exact proof. On top of that the Badr Brigade, a military wing of

6808-548: The sides of an official missionary van. According to The Economist , Saudi practices followed by the group include the establishment of religious police to root out "vice" and enforce attendance at Salah prayers, the widespread use of capital punishment , and the destruction or re-purposing of any non- Sunni religious buildings. Bernard Haykel has described IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's creed as "a kind of untamed Wahhabism". Senior Saudi religious leaders have issued statements condemning IS, and attempting to distance

6900-426: The state was a morisco to trigger the civil war, after the invasion by the US government lawlessness was present which triggered a security vacuum. The sectarian security dilemma was triggered by the security vacuum of the collapse of the state and the subsequent period of violence after the al-Askari mosque bombing. Economic and political problems undermined the Iraqi state, stemming from previous wars in which Iraq

6992-402: The task of ensuring that all decisions made by the governors and councils comply with the group's interpretation of sharia . While al-Baghdadi had told followers to "advise me when I err" in sermons, according to observers "any threat, opposition, or even contradiction is instantly eradicated". According to Iraqis, Syrians, and analysts who study the group, almost all of IS's leaders—including

7084-456: The territorial integrity of Iraq and prevent the civil war there from engulfing the Middle East. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Primary target of The Islamic State ( IS ), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ), the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ( ISIS ) and by its Arabic acronym Daesh ,

7176-456: The territory it controls. In a speech in September 2014, United States President Barack Obama said that ISIL was neither Islamic (on the basis that no religion condones the killing of innocents) nor a state (in that no government recognises the group as a state), while many object to using the name Islamic State owing to the far-reaching religious and political claims to authority which that name implies. The United Nations Security Council ,

7268-540: The toppling of Saddam Hussein, such as the Badr Organization . Others were created since the state collapse, the largest and most uniform of which was the Mahdi Army established by Muqtada al-Sadr and believed to have around 50,000 fighters. Attacks on non-military and civilian targets began in August 2003 as an attempt to sow chaos and sectarian discord. Iraqi casualties increased over the next several years. By

7360-466: The vast majority of Muslims. While the use of either one or the other acronym has been the subject of debate, the distinction between the two and its relevance has been considered less important. Of greater relevance is the name Daesh, which is an acronym of ISIL's Arabic name ad-Dawlah al-Islamīyah fī l-ʻIrāq wa-sh-Shām. Dāʿish ( داعش ), or Daesh. This name has been widely used by ISIL's Arabic-speaking detractors, for example when referring to

7452-447: The view he kept hearing was that ISIL wants to "conquer the world", and that all who do not believe in the group's interpretation of the Quran will be killed. Todenhöfer was struck by the ISIL fighters' belief that "all religions who agree with democracy have to die", and by their "incredible enthusiasm" – including enthusiasm for killing "hundreds of millions" of people. When the caliphate

7544-987: The years that followed. In 2007, Al-Adel Shopping Center became the site of large-scale gun fighting. 33°11′24″N 44°09′00″E  /  33.19000°N 44.15000°E  / 33.19000; 44.15000 This Baghdad -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Iraq geographical location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Iraqi civil war (2006%E2%80%932008) Short-term Iraqi government and allied victory [REDACTED] Mahdi Army [REDACTED]   Al-Qaeda and allies : [REDACTED] Mujahideen Shura Council (until October 2006) [REDACTED] Ansar al-Sunna [REDACTED] Islamic Army in Iraq Sunni tribes Other Sunni insurgent groups Invasion (2003) Post-invasion insurgency (2003–2006) Civil war (2006–2008) Insurgency (2008–2011) The Iraqi civil war

7636-523: Was 2 million (a number close to CIA projections ) and the number of internally displaced people was 2.7 million. The Red Cross stated in 2008 that Iraq's humanitarian situation was among the most critical in the world, with millions of Iraqis forced to rely on insufficient and poor-quality water sources. According to the Failed States Index , produced by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace , Iraq

7728-409: Was an armed conflict from 2006 to 2008 between various sectarian Shia and Sunni armed groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Mahdi Army , in addition to the Iraqi government alongside American-led coalition forces . In February 2006, the insurgency against the coalition and government escalated into a sectarian civil war after the bombing of Al-Askari Shrine , considered

7820-491: Was believed to be under the overall command of IS's most senior Syrian operative, spokesman and propaganda chief Abu Mohammad al-Adnani until his death by airstrike in late August 2016. On 27 October 2019, the United States conducted a special operation targeting al-Baghdadi's compound in Barisha , Idlib , Northwest Syria. The attack resulted in al-Baghdadi's death ; caught by surprise and unable to escape, al-Baghdadi detonated

7912-567: Was excellent. We really had great cooperation" and Turkey knew they were going in. He thanked Turkey, Russia, Syria, Iraq and the Syrian Kurdish forces for their support. The Turkish Defence Ministry also confirmed on Sunday that Turkish and U.S. military authorities exchanged and coordinated information ahead of an attack in Syria's Idlib. Fahrettin Altun , a senior aide to Turkish President Tayyib Erdogan, also stated, among other things, that "Turkey

8004-453: Was involved. The sectarian basis of Hussein's regime delimited the conflict that was taking place between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, which meant that poor leadership had incurred in triggering the civil war. The economy is a key factor in understanding the development of the sectarian conflict that occurred. The Sunnis, compared to other ethnic groups, had more purchasing power due to higher job preferences and wages during Hussein's rule. With

8096-475: Was one of the world's top 5 unstable states from 2005 to 2008. A multitude of groups formed the Iraqi insurgency, which arose in a piecemeal fashion as a reaction to local events, notably the realisation of the U.S. military's inability to control Iraq. Beginning in 2005 the insurgent forces coalesced around several main factions, including the Islamic Army in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna . Religious justification

8188-607: Was proclaimed, ISIL stated: "The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organisations becomes null by the expansion of the khilafah's [caliphate's] authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas." This was a rejection of the political divisions in Southwestern Asia that were established by the UK and France during World War I in the Sykes–Picot Agreement . All non-Muslim areas would be targeted for conquest after

8280-421: Was proud to help the United States, our NATO ally, bring a notorious terrorist to justice" and that Turkey "will continue to work closely with the United States and others to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say if the United States had told Russia about the raid in advance but said that its result if confirmed, represented a serious contribution by

8372-404: Was referring to IS spokesman and senior leader Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir , who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria two days earlier. On 31 October, IS named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi as Baghdadi's successor. On 3 February 2022, it was reported by a US official that al-Hashimi killed himself and members of his family by triggering an explosive device during a counter-terrorism raid by

8464-721: Was used to support the political actions of these groups, as well as a marked adherence to Salafism , branding those against the jihad as non-believers. This approach played a role in the rise of sectarian violence. The U.S. military also believed that between 5 and 10% of insurgent forces were non-Iraqi Arabs. Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and groups associated with it steadily became a brutal and wasteful foreign occupation force, engaging Yemeni, Saudi, Moroccan, Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese foreign fighters. Independent Shi'a militias identified themselves around sectarian ideology and possessed various levels of influence and power. Some militias were founded in exile and returned to Iraq only after

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