The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, often abbreviated as "ISIL" and pronounced as such, is a militant Islamist terrorist group. It is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, abbreviated as "ISIS" (and pronounced the same as the ancient Egyptian goddess, Isis) or sometimes as just Islamic State "IS", which has caused name changes to distinguish other entities from the group.
Version 0.3 of Linux distribution elementary OS, originally to be called Isis, was renamed Freya. [1] (Freya is a Norse goddess.)
A mobile banking app previously known as ISIS changed its name to Softcard in 2014, stating "We have no desire to share a name with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and our hearts go out to those affected by this violence". [2]
In 2015, the University of Arkansas decided to rename its course registration system from "Integrated Student Information System" to "UAConnect". [3] National University of Singapore and Dunman High School in Singapore made similar changes to their similarly-named systems. [4]
Tufts University and University of Massachusetts Lowell renamed its online information system, iSiS, the "Intercampus Student information System", to "SiS" – Student Information System. [5]
In 2016, the University of Economics, Prague decided to rename its online information system from ISIS to INSIS (Czech: Integrovaný Studijní Informační Systém). [6]
Also in 2016, Cornell University's Isis2 Distributed Computing Library was renamed "Vsync" to eliminate any suggestion of connections to the group. [7]
Other universities that have renamed their software include Kansas State University, [8] the University of Iowa, [9] and Johns Hopkins University. [10] [11]
In 2013, a Belgian chocolate manufacturer previously known as Italo Suisse changed its name to ISIS. But in 2014, it changed the name again to Libeert after a decline in sales, mainly in the Anglophone world. The company was founded in 1923, and had only been called ISIS for a year. [12]
A British private equity firm changed its name from ISIS Equity Partners to Livingbridge to distance itself from the group. [13]
In 2014, a Chicago business owner renamed her store from ISIS to My Sister's Circus after people began taking pictures of her store's sign and harassing her sales staff.[ citation needed ]
In Queens, New York, the owner of ISIS Nails renamed the salon Bess Nails and Spa because of harassment. The salon's revenue had declined by approximately 30 percent. [14]
In 2015, Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pharmaceutical company in California, originally named for the Egyptian goddess, after observing relevant drop in stock and to avoid confusion, decided to change the name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals. [15]
Automobile performance part manufacturer ISIS Performance changed its name to ISR Performance after using it for 6 years to remove the negative connotation with its name. The change took place on November 17, 2015. [16] [17]
The Danish dessert company ISIS changed their name to EASIS, citing the "political connotations" [18] their name would have on primarily export markets. [18]
An Australian fit-out and refurbishment company changed its name to SHAPE, to coincide with the "best interests" of those involved with their business. [19]
In June 2016, Finnish translation agency Isis Translations changed its name to Pauhu Ltd. to avoid denial of service attacks and problems with bank and PayPal payments. [20]
In 2014, an organisation in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia aimed at assimilating immigrants, previously known as Immigrant Settlement & Integration Services (ISIS), changed its name to Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS). Its main concern about the former name was its appropriateness towards clients from Iraq and Syria, where ISIL are operative. [21]
A language school in Oxford, named Isis after the city's stretch of the River Thames, became the Oxford International Education Group in April 2015. Staff said that recruiting from the Middle East was made difficult by the name, and that people searching for their website may be put at risk. [22]
In 2016, the Association for Information Systems (AIS) changed the pronunciation of its premier conference ICIS, International Conference on Information Systems, to "I See IS". [23]
In 2016, an international non-profit organisation that responsible for online database of wild animals under human care, previously known as International Species Information System (ISIS), changed its name to Species360. [24]
The former ISIS InterCity train of the Hungarian national railway company MÁV-START, named after the Egyptian goddess, was renamed to Ízisz on 31 August 2015, reflecting the Hungarian spelling of the same word. [25] [26] The train was further renamed to Borostyánkő on 13 December 2015, distancing it completely from its original name. [27]
The FX animated series Archer , first aired in 2009, revolves around the fictional International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS). In 2014, the sixth season of the show began with the characters being told that they now work for the CIA. Merchandise based on the fictional ISIS was withdrawn. [28]
A French rock band changed their name from Isis Child to Angel's Whisper as the attention on ISIL had overshadowed them on search engines. [29] An American band named Isis, which was disbanded in 2010, changed their Facebook name to "Isis the band" to avoid confusion. Some fans suggested that the band should change their name completely. [30]
In December 2015, the name of the spaceship browser in the online multiplayer video game EVE Online was changed from "Interbus Ship Identification System" (ISIS) to "Ship Tree". [31]
The anime series Infinite Stratos also sometimes sparked controversy,[ example needed ] as its shortened name is "IS", which is sometimes confused with Islamic State.
In the multiplayer online battle arena video game Smite, developer Hi-Rez Studios renamed the playable goddess Isis to Eset, citing concerns of demonetization on video platforms. [32]
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An Australian woman who named her daughter Isis after the Egyptian goddess stated it caused a rift in her family because the name is "now synonymous with terrorism and evil". An American woman named Isis initiated an online petition for the media to stop referring to ISIL as ISIS. [33]
In April 2015, the World Meteorological Organization removed Isis from its list for the 2016 Pacific hurricane season, replacing it with "Ivette". [34]
In November 2015, a soldier with the Canadian Armed Forces initially refused to sign a participatory certificate for nine-year-old Isis Fernandes who was attending a school field trip. The soldier only agreed to sign after commenting to the girl that he thought her name was not real and a bad joke. The soldier subsequently apologized and was removed from signing certificates for children in the future. [35]
The British television series Downton Abbey featured a dog named Isis after the goddess, who became ill in the show around the same time as other entities sought to distance themselves from ISIL. Actor Hugh Bonneville repudiated claims that the dog was being killed off due to its name, saying "Anyone who genuinely believes the series five storyline (1924) involving the animal was a reaction to recent world news is a complete berk." [36] ITV called the name an "unfortunate coincidence". [36]
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.
Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, commonly known by his nom de guerreAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was an Iraqi militant who was the first caliph of the Islamic State (IS) from 2014 until his death.
Taha Sobhi Falaha, known by his nom de guerreAbu Muhammad al-Adnani al-Shami, was the official spokesperson and a senior leader of the Islamic State. He was described as the chief of its external operations. He was the second most senior leader of the Islamic State after its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Media reports in August 2016 suggested he was in charge of a special unit, known as the Emni, that was established by IS in 2014 with the double objective of internal policing and executing operations outside IS territory.
Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian Civil War and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, universally condemned executions, human rights abuses and the fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War. These efforts are called the War against the Islamic State, or the War against ISIS. In later years, there were also minor interventions by some states against IS-affiliated groups in Nigeria and Libya. All these efforts significantly degraded the Islamic State's capabilities by around 2019–2020. While moderate fighting continues in Syria, as of 2024, ISIS has been contained to a manageably small area and force capability.
The Women's Protection Units or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil war. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of Rojava, and is closely affiliated with the male-led YPG. While the YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern Syria.
The Military of the Islamic State is the fighting force of the Islamic State (IS). The total force size at its peak was estimated from tens of thousands to over two hundred thousand. IS's armed forces grew quickly during its territorial expansion in 2014. The IS military, including groups incorporated into it in 2014, openly operates and controls territory in multiple cities in Libya and Nigeria. In October 2016, it conquered the city of Qandala in Puntland, Somalia. It conquered much of eastern Syria and western Iraq in 2014, territory it lost finally only in 2019. It also has had border clashes with and made incursions into Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan. IS-linked groups operate in Algeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and in West Africa. In January 2015, IS was also confirmed to have a military presence in Afghanistan and in Yemen.
The Battle of Ramadi, also called the Fall of Ramadi, was part of an ISIL offensive to capture all of the Anbar Province. Ramadi was one of the Iraqi government's last strongholds in Anbar, after ISIL's success in a previous campaign. The battle began in November 2014, and drew to a close on 14 May 2015, as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents seized hold of government buildings. On 17 May, the Iraqi Army and special forces fled the city, with 500 civilians and security personnel dead.
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.
The Salahuddin Campaign was a military conflict in the Saladin Governorate, located in north-central Iraq, involving various factions fighting against a single common enemy, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The province exited Iraqi government control during ISIL's Northern Iraq offensive when large swathes of the north of the country were captured by the militant group with the Iraqi national army quickly disintegrating in the path of its advance. In light of the sweeping gains of the militants, Nouri Al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq at that time, attempted to declare a state of emergency though the Iraqi Parliament blocked his efforts to do so.
The ideology of the Islamic State, sometimes called Islamic Statism, has been described as being a hybrid of Salafism, Salafi jihadism, Sunni Islamist fundamentalism, Wahhabism, and Qutbism. Through its official statement of beliefs originally released by its first leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2007 and subsequently updated since June 2014, IS defined its creed as "a middle way between the extremist Kharijites and the lax Murji'ites".
Oil production and smuggling was the largest source of revenue for the finances of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq until the complete loss of its territory in 2019. Most oil extracted was distributed for use within the Islamic State, but some was also smuggled to surrounding states at below market price.
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".
In early 2014, the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant captured extensive territory in Western Iraq in the Anbar campaign, while counter-offensives against it were mounted in Syria. Raqqa in Syria became its headquarters. The Wall Street Journal estimated that eight million people lived under its control in the two countries.
A genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State was carried out in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq in the mid-2010s. The genocide led to the expulsion and effective exile of the Yazidis. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by ISIL, and thousands of Yazidi men were killed. About 5,000 Yazidi civilians were killed during what has been called a "forced conversion campaign" carried out by ISIL in Northern Iraq. The genocide began after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces and Peshmerga, which left the Yazidis defenseless.
Collaboration with the Islamic State refers to the cooperation and assistance given by governments, non-state actors, and private individuals to the Islamic State (IS) during the Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Civil War, and Libyan Civil War.
This article lists the Mass executions in ISIL-occupied Mosul. Mosul, which is located in the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq, was occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Fall of Mosul on June 10, 2014, until the liberation of Mosul on July 10, 2017. Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq, and because of this, it was one of the Islamic State's largest bases, and their capture of the city was used in propaganda to demonstrate their military strength. Sunni Islam is the majority religion in the area. Mass executions of civilians, enemy soldiers, and members of ISIL who were accused of offenses were a regular occurrence, and executions peaked during the Mosul offensive. Mosul was the site of many of ISIL's war crimes. This article is a timeline of recorded mass executions carried out by ISIL in and around Mosul.
The Philippines is one of the state opponents of the militant group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), more commonly referred to by the local media as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Al-Barakah is a Syrian administrative district of the Islamic State (IS), a Salafi jihadist militant group and unrecognised proto-state. Originally set up as al-Barakah Province to govern ISIL territories in al-Hasakah Governorate, the province shifted south after 2016 due to the territorial losses to the YPG/YPJ. Having been demoted from province to district in 2018, al-Barakah administered a small strip of land along the Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate until the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, since then the "territory" has turned into an insurgency.
3.8 - Updated system name references from ISIS to SIS