ISIL (disambiguation)

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ISIL is the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (self-styled "Islamic State"), a militant Islamic group operating primarily in Iraq and Syria.

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ISIL or Isil may also refer to:

Identifiers

Organizations

Other uses

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Related Research Articles

Isis most commonly refers to the Egyptian goddess Isis, or as an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badr Organization</span> Political party in Iraq

The Badr Organization, previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps, is an Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary organization headed by Hadi Al-Amiri. The Badr Brigade was the Iran-officered military wing of the Iran-based Shia Islamic party, Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), formed in 1982. The Badr Brigade was created by Iranian intelligence and Shia cleric Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim with the aim of fighting Saddam Hussein's regime during the Iran–Iraq War. Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq most of Badr's fighters have entered the new Iraqi army and police force. Politically, Badr Brigade and SCIRI were considered to be one party since 2003, but have now unofficially separated with the Badr Organization now an official Iraqi political party. Badr Brigade forces, and their Iranian commanders, have come to prominence in 2014 fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq. It is a part of the Popular Mobilization Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State</span> Salafi jihadist militant Islamist group

The Islamic State (IS)—also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and by its Arabic acronym Da'ish—is a Salafi jihadist transnational Islamist terror group and former unrecognised quasi-state. It was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999 and gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants conquered large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, aided by the Syrian civil war. By the end of 2015, it ruled an area with an estimated population of twelve million people, where it enforced its interpretation of Islamic law, administered an annual budget of more than US$1 billion, and had more than 30,000 fighters under its command. After years of intense and grinding combat with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, by 2019 it had lost all its Middle Eastern territories and returned to insurgency tactics in the regions it once controlled, operating from remote hideouts and continuing its propaganda efforts, which have gained it a strong following in northern and Sahelian Africa.

According to the most recent government statistics, 97% of the population of Iraq was Muslim in 2010 ; the constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadist flag</span> Flag used by various Muslim groups to represent jihad (holy war)

The jihadist flag is a flag commonly used by various Islamist and fundamentalist movements as a symbol of jihad. It usually consists of the Black Standard with a white text of the Shahada emblazoned across it in calligraphy style writing. Its usage was widely adopted by Islamist groups and jihadists during the 1990s and early 2000s. Aside from Islamism, the flag has also been used by various terrorist organizations.

The Battle of Markada was a military confrontation between two jihadist groups, al Qaeda's al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), over the town of Markada in the Al-Hasakah Governorate, in March 2014 during the Syrian civil war. The strategic importance of the town to the ISIL lay in its position on the group's weapons supply route from Iraq, the road linking Al-Hasakah with Deir ez-Zor and a hill that dominates the surrounding area. On the ISIL side there were many Sunni Iranians, including Kurds, who played an important role in the battle.

The International reactions to ISIL has widely been condemnation and declaration as a terrorist group, however, there have been pockets of support for the group shown in opinion polling in July 2014 conducted at the request of the Russian state news agency Rossiya Segodnya by ICM Research in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Further support arises from factions of Al Qaeda, and other radical elements both inside and out of governments.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has employed sexual violence against women and men in a terroristic manner. Sexual violence, as defined by The World Health Organization includes “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.” ISIL has used sexual violence to undermine a sense of security within communities, and to raise funds through the sale of captives into sexual slavery.

Human rights in the territory controlled by the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS) are considered to be in one of the worst states, if not the worst state in modern history and it has been harshly criticized by many political and religious organisations, as well as by many individuals. The Islamic State's policies included acts of genocide, torture and slavery. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) has stated that the Islamic State "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". Many Islamic State actions of extreme criminality, terror, recruitment and other activities has been documented in the Middle East.

The portrayal of ISIL in American media has largely been negative. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been linked in the American media to several atrocities throughout the Middle East. Most recently U.S. coverage has linked ISIL members to burning alive the Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and most recently, because the perpetrator of the June 2016 Orlando mass shooting- America's second deadliest- reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIL and its leader in a phone call to 911 operators just before the incident. The American public was introduced to ISIL with these actions. This contrasts with the renewed prominence of al-Qaeda after the September 11 attacks in the media. That coverage focused on the United States' response to the attacks, while the coverage of ISIL started with the organization itself and evolved to cover America's potential strategy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordanian intervention in the Syrian civil war</span> Ongoing military conflict between Jordan and the Islamic State

The Jordanian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War began on 22 September 2014, with airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets, and escalated after the murder of Muath al-Kasasbeh, a Jordanian pilot who was captured by ISIL when his F-16 Fighter Jet crashed over Syria in early 2015. Though Jordan's strikes in Syria largely tapered off after December 2015, airstrikes have continued through February 2017, and Jordan has continued to support rebel groups in Syria and host military activities of other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwekh Nawsha</span> Iraqi Assyrian militia

The Dwekh Nawsha was a Christian military organization created in June 2014 in order to defend Iraq's Assyrian population from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and possibly retake their lands currently controlled by ISIL. The militia defends the Christian cities in the Nineveh province of the historical Assyria region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade</span> Islamist militant group active in the Gaza Strip

The Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, also known as Islamic State in Gaza, is an Islamist militant group affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant that is active in the Gaza Strip. Its goals have consistently matched those of the Islamic State, in that it seeks to establish the al-Sham caliphate. As such, it opposes all forms of Palestinian nationalism while also supporting the elimination of all Jews and other ethno-religious 'infidels' from the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Nabil al-Anbari</span> Iraqi military personnel

Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, better known by his noms de guerre Abu Nabil al-Anbari, Abul Mughirah al-Qahtani or Abu Yazan al-Humairi was a commander in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the leader of its Libyan branch. Al-Anbari was killed by a US military airstrike on 13 November 2015.

Since 2012, the Islamic State (IS) has produced annual reports giving numerical information on its operations, somewhat in the style of corporate reports, seemingly in a bid to encourage potential donors.

The name of the Islamic State has been contentious since 2013. In Arabic, the group called itself al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah fī al-`Irāq wa al-Shām, which it adopted in April 2013. The literal translation of its previous name resulted in confusion, resulting in both ISIS and ISIL, two acronyms based on different literal translations of the name into English. Apart from these, an Arabic-derived acronym, "Daesh", Da'ish or Dā`iš (داعش), which is also the common name for the group beyond the Arabic-speaking parts of the world. Finally, the group's current name caused controversy due to its English translation as Islamic State and as a result, both the previous acronyms are still widely used, or a qualifier is often added to the IS name, such as "Islamic State militant group", "Islamic State extremist group", "Islamic State terrorist group", "self-styled Islamic State" or "so-called Islamic State".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jineology</span> Form of feminism advocated by PKK leader Abdullah Ă–calan

Jineology is a form of feminism and of gender equality advocated by Abdullah Öcalan, the representative leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the broader Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) umbrella. From the background of honor-based religious and tribal rules that confine women in Middle East societies, Öcalan said that "a country can't be free unless the women are free", and that the level of women's freedom determines the level of freedom in society at large.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">December 2016 Aden suicide bombings</span> Terrorist attacks in Aden, Yemen in December 2016

The December 2016 Aden suicide bombings were terrorist attacks that occurred on 10 December and 18 December 2016 targeted on Yemeni soldiers in Aden, the responsibility of bombing was claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, according to Amaq news agency. The suicide bombing occurred in a gathering of soldiers who were to receive their salaries on 10 December 2016. The blasts took place at same military base camps on 18 December 2016.

The group that became The Islamic State was founded in 1999 by Jordanian Salafi jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi under the name Jamāʻat al-Tawḥīd wa-al-Jihād. A document captured in 2004, thought to indicate the group's strategy and modus operandi, urges Al-Qaeda to help al-Zarqawi start a "sectarian war" against Shia in Iraq to rally Sunni Arabs to its side.