The origins of theIslamic State can be traced back to three main organizations. Earliest of these was the "Jamāʻat al-Tawḥīd wa-al-Jihād" (transl. "The Organisation of Monotheism and Jihad") organization, founded by the Jihadist leaderAbu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi in Jordan in 1999. Although the other two predecessor organizations emerged during theIraqi insurgency against theU.S. occupation forces which included the "Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah" (transl. "Army of the Victorious Sect") group founded byAbu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004 and the "Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah" (transl. "Army of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah") group founded byAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his associates in the same year, the modern iteration of the Islamic State was formed after theU.S. occupational forces outlawed theIraqi branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party putting the Sunni soldiers and bureaucrats out of work.[1][2]
The group went through a number of name changes as it declared itself not just an organization but a state, and then declared itself as a worldwide caliphate. In 2004, it becameTanẓīm Qāʻidat al-Jihād fī Bilād al-Rāfidayn, commonly known asal-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), when al-Zarqawi gavebay'ah toOsama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The same year, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi established the "Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah" (JTM) and "Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah" (JASJ) groups which were allied to al-Qaeda during theearly Iraqi insurgency. In January 2006, various Islamist insurgent groups (including AQI, JTM and JASJ) formed a coalition known as theMujahideen Shura Council (MSM).
A few months after the death of al-Zarqawi in June 2006, MSM announced its dissolution and declared the establishment of an independent organization known as the "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI), under the leadership ofAbu Omar al-Baghdadi. ISI participated in theIraqi insurgency between 2006 and 2011 that sought the end ofUS occupation of Iraq. In 2010, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed during a military raid by US forces nearTikrit, paving the way for the succession ofAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who became the second Emir of ISI.
In 2013,Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his intention to forcibly mergeAl-Nusra Front (which it claimed to have established and supported) with ISI and announced the formation of "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant".[3] Al-Qaeda EmirAyman al-Zawahiri denounced the merger proposal and demanded the abolishment of the new organization, publicly declaring that Al-Nusra Front was the branch ofal-Qaeda in Syria. Zawahiri's mediation was rejected by al-Baghdadi, resulting in the eruption of armed conflict between ISIL andal-Qaeda and its allies. In 2014, ISIL proclaimed itself a worldwidecaliphate and changed its name to theIslamic State which in a year grew tocontrol territory with a population of millions. On 27 October 2019, al-Baghdadikilled himself to avoid capture during a U.S. raid in northwestern Syria.[4] The group had lost its territory and was back to insurgency mode, though it didn't change its name again.[5][6]
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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was founded in 1999 by JordanianSalafi jihadistAbu Musab al-Zarqawi under the nameJamāʻat al-Tawḥīd wa-al-Jihād (transl. "The Organisation of Monotheism and Jihad").[7] In February 2004, theCoalition officials released a document that they claimed to have captured from an Iraqi "operative", detailing plans to foment a "sectarian war" in Iraq with the help ofal-Qaeda's central leadership.US officials accused Zarqawi of writing the letter, although the attribution of the letter remained unverified. While Zarqawi was speculated to have been operating in Iraq during that period, he hadn't pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden until October 2004.[8][9]
Colonel Derek Harvey told Reuters that "theU.S. military detained Badr assassination teams possessing target lists of Sunni officers and pilots in 2003 and 2004 but didn't hold them. Harvey said his superiors told him that 'this stuff had to play itself out' – implying that revenge attacks by returning Shi'ite groups were to be expected."[10] Jerry Burke, an adviser to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, said that in 2005 a plan from him and several colleagues to surveil and stop suspected Badr Brigade death squads in the special police forces was rejected when it got to an American Flag (General) Officer.[11]
In October 2004, when al-Zarqawiswore loyalty toOsama bin Laden andal-Qaeda, he renamed the groupTanẓīm Qāʻidat al-Jihād fī Bilād al-Rāfidayn (transl. "The Organisation of Jihad's Base inMesopotamia"), commonly known asal-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).[12][13][14][15][16] Although the group never called itselfal-Qaeda in Iraq, this remained its informal name for many years.[17] Attacks by the group on civilians, Iraqi government forces, foreign diplomats and soldiers, and American convoys continued with roughly the same intensity. In a letter to al-Zarqawi in July 2005, al-Qaeda's then deputy leaderAyman al-Zawahiri outlined a four-stage plan to expand theIraq War. The plan included expellingUS forces from Iraq, establishing an Islamic authority as acaliphate, spreading the conflict to Iraq's secular neighbours, and clashing with Israel, which the letter said, "[...] was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity".[18]
In January 2006, AQI joined with several smaller Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups like "Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah" and "Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah" under an umbrella organisation called theMujahideen Shura Council (MSC). According to analyst Brian Fishman, the merger was an attempt to give the group a more Iraqi flavour, and perhaps to distance al-Qaeda from some of al-Zarqawi's tactical errors, such as the2005 bombings by AQI of three hotels in Amman.[19] On 7 June 2006, a US airstrike killed al-Zarqawi, who was succeeded as leader of the group by the Egyptian militantAbu Ayyub al-Masri.[20][21][22]
On 12 October 2006, MSC united with three smaller groups and six Sunni tribes to form theMutayibeen Coalition, pledging "To rid Sunnis from the oppression of the rejectionists (Shi'ite Muslims) and the crusader occupiers ... to restore rights even at the price of our own lives ... to make Allah's word supreme in the world, and to restore the glory of Islam".[23][24] A day later, MSC declared the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), comprising Iraq's six mostly Sunni Arabgovernorates,[25] withAbu Omar al-Baghdadi itsemir[26][27] and al-Masri Minister of War within ISI's ten-member cabinet.[28]
According to a study compiled byUnited States intelligence agencies in early 2007, ISI planned to seize power in the central and western areas of Iraq and turn it into a Sunnicaliphate.[29]The group built in strength and at its height enjoyed a significant presence in theIraqi governorates ofAl Anbar,Diyala andBaghdad, claimingBaqubah as a capital city.[30][31][32][33]
TheIraq War troop surge of 2007 supplied the U.S. military with more manpower for operations, and dozens of high-level ISI members being captured or killed.[34] Between July and October 2007, Islamic State of Iraq was reported to have lost its secure military bases in Al Anbar province and theBaghdad area.[35] During 2008, a series of US and Iraqi offensives expelled ISI-aligned insurgents from their former safe havens, such as theDiyala and Al Anbar governorates, to the area of the northern city ofMosul.[36]
By 2008, the ISI was describing itself as being in a state of "extraordinary crisis".[37] Its violent attempts to govern territory led to a backlash from Sunni Arab Iraqis and other insurgent groups and a temporary decline in the group, which was attributable to a number of factors,[38] notably theAnbar Awakening.
In late 2009, the commander of US forces in Iraq,General Ray Odierno, stated that ISI "has transformed significantly in the last two years. What once was dominated by foreign individuals has now become more and more dominated by Iraqi citizens".[39] On 18 April 2010, ISI's two top leaders, al-Masri and Omar al-Baghdadi, were killed in a joint US-Iraqi raid nearTikrit.[40] In a press conference in June 2010, General Odierno reported that 80% of ISI's top 42 leaders, including recruiters and financiers, had been killed or captured, with only eight remaining at large. He said that they had been cut off from al-Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan.[41][42][43]
On 16 May 2010,Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was appointed the new leader of ISI.[44][45] Al-Baghdadi replenished the group's leadership by appointing formerIraqi military andIntelligence Service officers who had served duringSaddam Hussein's rule.[46][47] These men, nearly all of whom had spent time imprisoned by the U.S. military atCamp Bucca, came to make up about one third of Baghdadi's top 25 commanders, includingAbu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi,Ali Aswad al-Jiburi, andAbu Muslim al-Turkmani. One of them, a former colonel calledHaji Bakr became the overall military commander in charge of overseeing the group's operations.[48][49] Al-Khlifawi was instrumental in doing the ground work that led to the growth of ISIL.[50][51]
In July 2012, al-Baghdadi released an audio statement online announcing that the group was returning to former strongholds from which US troops and theSons of Iraq had driven them in 2007 and 2008.[52] He declared the start of a new offensive in Iraq calledBreaking the Walls, aimed at freeing members of the group held in Iraqi prisons.[52]Violence in Iraq had begun to escalate in June 2012, primarily with ISI'scar bomb attacks, and by July 2013, monthly fatalities exceeded 1,000 for the first time since April 2008.[53]
In March 2011, protests began in Syria against the Ba'athist government ofBashar al-Assad. In the following months, violence between demonstrators and security forces led to a gradual militarisation of the conflict.[54] In August 2011, following the outbreak of theSyrian Civil War, al-Baghdadi began sending Syrian and Iraqi Jihadists experienced inguerilla warfare across the border into Syria to establish an organization there. On 23 January 2012, the group took up the nameJabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahli ash-Shām (oral-Nusra Front), operating as an autonomous entity within the transnationalAl-Qaeda network and began to establish a large presence in Sunni-majorityRaqqa,Idlib,Deir ez-Zor, andAleppo provinces.[55][56] Led by a Syrian known asAbu Muhammad al-Julani, this group began to recruit fighters and establish cells throughout the country, with popular support among Syrians opposed to the Assad government.[57]
On 8 April 2013, al-Baghdadi released an audio statement in which he claimed that the al-Nusra Front had been established, financed, and supported by ISI,[58] and that the two groups were merging under the name Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIL, Al-Sham also translates as the Levant).[59] However,Abu Mohammad al-Julani andAyman al-Zawahiri, the leaders of al-Nusra and al-Qaeda respectively, rejected the merger. Al-Julani issued a statement denying the merger, and complaining that neither he nor anyone else in al-Nusra's leadership had been consulted about it.[60]
In June 2013,Al Jazeera reported that it had obtained a letter written by al-Qaeda's leaderAyman al-Zawahiri, addressed to both leaders, in which he ruled against the merger, and appointed an emissary to oversee relations between them to put an end to tensions.[61] That same month, al-Baghdadi released an audio message rejecting al-Zawahiri's ruling and declaring that the merger was going ahead.[62] Strong condemnation from Al-Nusra and AQ leaderships of the move to proceed with the merger, resulted in ISIL's formal split from the widerJihadist movement, leading to a fierce conflict with the Al-Qaeda network.[63][64] ISIL significantly revamped the course of theSyrian civil war when it announced unilateral expansion intoSyria in mid-2013 and began conducting ground attacks not only against theBa'athist Syrian military forces, but also theFree Syrian militias.[65]
Meanwhile, the ISIL campaign to free its imprisoned members culminated in simultaneous raids onTaji andAbu Ghraib prisons in July 2013, freeing more than 500 prisoners, many of them veterans of theIraqi insurgency.[53][66] In October 2013, al-Zawahiri ordered the disbanding of ISIL, putting al-Nusra Front in charge of jihadist efforts in Syria,[67] but al-Baghdadi rejected al-Zawahiri's order,[62] and his group continued to operate in Syria. In February 2014, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda publicly disavowed any relations with ISIL.[68]
According to journalist Sarah Birke, there are "significant differences" between al-Nusra Front and ISIL. While al-Nusra actively calls for the overthrow of the Assad government, ISIL "tends to be more focused on establishing its own rule on conquered territory". ISIL is "far more ruthless" in building an Islamic state, "carrying out sectarian attacks and imposing sharia law immediately". While al-Nusra has a "large contingent of foreign fighters", it is seen as a home-grown group by many Syrians; by contrast, ISIL fighters have been described as "foreign 'occupiers'" by many Syrian refugees.[69] Foreign fighters in Syria include Russian-speaking jihadists who were part ofLisa al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (referred to as JMA).[citation needed] In November 2013,Abu Omar al-Shishani, leader of the JMA, swore anoath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi;[70] the group then split between those who followed al-Shishani in joining ISIL and those who continued to operate independently in the JMA under new leadership.[71]
In January 2014, rebels affiliated with theIslamic Front and the US-trainedFree Syrian Army[72] launched an offensive against ISIL militants in and around the city ofAleppo, following months of tensions over ISIL's behavior, which included the seizure of property and weapons from rebel groups, and the arrests and killings of activists.[73][74] Months of clashes ensued, causing thousands of casualties, with ISIL withdrawing its forces from Idlib and Latakia provinces and redeploying them to reinforce its strongholds in Raqqa and Aleppo.[75] It alsolaunched an offensive against all other opposition forces active in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, on the border with Iraq.[76][77] By June 2014, ISIL had largely defeated its rivals in the province, with many who had not been killed or driven away pledging allegiance to it.[78][79]
In Iraq, ISIL was able tocapture most of Fallujah in January 2014,[80] and in June 2014 was able toseize control of Mosul.[81]
After an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with ISIL by February 2014, citing its failure to consult and "notorious intransigence".[82][68]
In early 2014, ISIL droveIraqi government forces out of key cities in itsAnbar campaign,[83] which was followed by thecapture of Mosul[81] and theSinjar massacre.[84] The loss of control almost caused a collapse of the Iraqi government and prompted a renewal ofU.S. military action in Iraq. In Syria, ISIL has conducted ground attacks on both theSyrian Arab Army andrebel factions.
On 29 June 2014, ISIL proclaimed itself to be "the Islamic State", a worldwidecaliphate.[85] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – known by his supporters asAmir al-Mu'minin, Caliph Ibrahim – was named its caliph, and the group renamed itselfad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah ("Islamic State" (IS)).[86] As a "Caliphate", it claims religious, political and military authority over all Muslims worldwide.[87] The concept of it being a caliphate and the name "Islamic State" have been rejected by governments and Muslim leaders worldwide.[88][89][90][91][92]
In June and July 2014, Jordan and Saudi Arabia moved at least 30,000 troops to their borders with Iraq, after the Iraqi government lost control of (or withdrew from) strategic crossing points that were captured by either ISIL or tribes that supported it.[93][94] There was speculation that Iraqi Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki had ordered a withdrawal of troops from the Iraq–Saudi crossings in order "to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia and bring the threat of ISIS over-running its borders as well".[95]
In July 2014, IS recruited more than 6,300 fighters, according to theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights, some of whom were thought to have previously fought for theFree Syrian Army.[96] On 23 July 2014,Abu Sayyaf leaderIsnilon Hapilon and some masked men swore loyalty to al-Baghdadi in a video, giving IS a presence in the Philippines.[97][98] In September 2014, the group began kidnapping people for ransom.[99]
In 2016, according to the daily,La Stampa, officials fromEuropol conducted an investigation into the trafficking of fake documents for IS. They have identified fake Syrian passports in the refugee camps in Greece that were destined to supposed members of IS, in order to avoid Greek government controls and make their way to other parts of Europe.[100] Also, the chief of Europol said that a new task force of 200 counter terrorism officers will be deployed to the Greek islands alongside Greek border guards in order to help Greece thwart a "strategic" level campaign by Islamic State to infiltrate terrorists into Europe.[101]
In early May 2019, after almost five years since his last public appearance in the summer of 2014, al-Baghdadi appeared in a video declaring his organisation's new geographical ambitions. After the loss of the territories it once occupied in the Levant and the crumbling of the 'Caliphate' project, the leader of the group boasted in his speech of "new oaths of allegiance extended to him from jihadis in Mali, Burkina Faso, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka" as well as in Turkey. According toSyrian-American journalistHassan Hassan, in a comment inForeign Policy magazine, "Baghdadi's video marks the failure of the U.S.-led coalition to capture Baghdadi and dismantle his organization. It demonstrates the health of both Baghdadi and his organization—refuting recent rumors that he was ailing—and allows them to boast about a major terrorist attack, their expansion to new places, and the recruitment of new members."[102]
On 3 August 2014, IS captured the cities ofZumar,Sinjar and Wana in northern Iraq.[84] Thousands ofYazidis fled upMount Sinjar, fearful of the approaching hostile IS militants. The stranded Yazidis' need for food and water, the threat ofgenocide to them and to others announced by IS, along with the desire to protect US citizens in Iraq and support the Iraqi government in its fight against IS, were all reasons given for the2014 American intervention in Iraq, which began on 7 August.[103] A US aerial bombing campaign began the following day.
At the end of October 2014, 800 militants gained partial control of the Libyan city ofDerna and pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, thus making Derna the first city outside Syria and Iraq to be a part of the "Islamic State Caliphate".[104] On 10 November 2014, a major faction of the Egyptian militant groupAnsar Bait al-Maqdis also pledged its allegiance to IS.[105] In mid-January 2015, a Yemeni official said that IS had "dozens" of members in Yemen, and that they were coming into direct competition withal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula because of their recruitment drive.[106] The same month, Afghan officials confirmed that IS had a military presence in Afghanistan.[107] However, by February 2015, 65 of the militants were either captured or killed by theTaliban, and IS's top Afghan recruiter,Mullah Abdul Rauf, was killed in a U.S.drone strike.[108][109][110]
In early February 2015, IS militants in Libya managed to capture part of the countryside to the west ofSabha, and later, an area encompassing the cities ofSirte,Nofolia, and a military base to the south of both cities. By March, IS had captured additional territory, including a city to the west of Derna, additional areas near Sirte, a stretch of land in southern Libya, some areas aroundBenghazi, and an area to the east ofTripoli.
On 7 March 2015,Boko Haram swore formal allegiance to IS, giving IS an official presence in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.[111][112][113] On 13 March 2015, a group of militants from theIslamic Movement of Uzbekistan swore allegiance to IS;[114] the group released another video on 31 July 2015 showing its spiritual leader also pledging allegiance.[115] In June 2015, the US Deputy Secretary of State announced that IS had lost more than 10,000 members inairstrikes over the preceding nine months.[116][117]
Since 2015, IS has lost territory in Iraq and Syria, includingTikrit in March and April 2015,[118]Baiji in October,[119]Sinjar in November 2015,[120][121]Ramadi in December 2015,[122]Fallujah in June 2016[123] andPalmyra in March 2017.[124]
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Since the fall of IS in Mosul, the overall extent of IS held territory in both Syria and Iraq has significantly diminished.[125] On 17 October 2017, IS lost control ofRaqqa inthe second battle of Raqqa.[126] On 3 November,Deir ez-Zor, IS's last major city in Syria, was recaptured,[127] andRawa, the last town held by IS in Iraq, was captured on 17 November.[128]
On 21 November 2017, Iranian presidentHassan Rouhani declared victory over IS.[129]Qasem Soleimani, senior military officer of theGuardians of the Islamic Revolution, wrote to Iran'ssupreme leaderAli Khamenei that IS had been defeated.[129]Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, declared victory over IS in Syria as well.[130] Iraqi prime ministerHaider al-Abadi also announced the military defeat of IS in Iraq.[131] Iraq detained more than 19,000 people suspected of links to IS and other terrorist groups, and sentenced at least 3,000 of them to death.[132]
On 23 November 2018, Britain'sChief of the General Staff GeneralMark Carleton-Smith said that the "physical manifestation of the Islamist threat has diminished with the complete destruction of the geography of the so-called Caliphate."[133]
On 19 December 2018, US presidentDonald Trump declared IS to have been defeated.[134] The UK's junior Defence MinisterTobias Ellwood said he "strongly" disagreed with Trump that IS had been defeated.[135] German foreign ministerHeiko Maas said that "IS has been pushed back but the threat is not yet over. There is a danger that the consequences of Trump's Syria withdrawal will damage the fight against IS and jeopardise the successes already achieved."[135] The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces declared military victory over IS on 23 March 2019 following theBattle of Baghuz Fawqani, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.[136]
Beginning primarily in 2017, as the Islamic State lost more swathes of territory and lost control over major settlements and cities, the group increasingly resorted to more terror bombings and insurgency operations, using its scattered underground networks ofsleeper cells across regions in the Middle East and various offshoots and adherents. The collapse of its final Middle Eastern territories in 2019 after theBattle of Baghuz Fawqani propelled the group into full insurgency phase in the regions it once controlled, while retaining influence viapropaganda efforts and in remote hideouts, such as in theSyrian Desert.[6][137]
In July 2019,United Nations analysts on the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee warned al-Baghdadi was plotting a comeback from Iraq.[138][139] He could launch international terrorist attacks before the end of the year in European nations.[140][141] By 7 October 2019, it was thought that IS could re-emerge with thewithdrawal of American troops from the region.[142][143][144]
On 27 October 2019, al-Baghdadi wastargeted byU.S. military and died after he detonated asuicide vest inBarisha,Idlib, Northwest Syria.[4][145] President Donald Trump confirmed in a televised announcement from the White House later that day that al-Baghdadi had died during a raid by US special forces in Idlib.[146][147]
In September 2019, a statement attributed to IS's propaganda arm, theAmaq News Agency, claimed thatAbdul Nasser Qardash was named as al-Baghdadi's successor.[148][149] Analysts dismissed this statement as a fabrication, and relatives were reported as saying that Qardash died in 2017.[150]Rita Katz, a terrorism analyst and the co-founder ofSITE 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.[151]
On 29 October 2019, President Trump stated on social media that al-Baghdadi's "number one replacement" had been killed by American forces, adding: "Most likely would have taken the top spot - Now he is also Dead!"[152] While President Trump didn't specify a name, a U.S. official later confirmed that Trump was referring to IS spokesman and senior leaderAbul-Hasan al-Muhajir,[153] who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria two days earlier.[154] Less than a week after thedeath of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on 31 October, IS namedAbu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as Baghdadi's successor,[155] indicating that the group still considers itself a caliphate despite having lost all of its territory in Iraq and Syria.[156] Two other individuals close to Baghdadi and believed to have been present in his last video appearance,[157] theSaudi Abu Saleh al-Juzrawi and theTunisian Abu Othman al-Tunsi, were also named as possible candidates to succeed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[150][158] In April 2021 Russian forces killed dozens of Islamic State militants in a series of air strikes following the Islamic State's killing of two Russian pilots.[159]
In January 2022, IS was described as resurging, being able to mount "coordinated and sophisticated attacks" from "sleeper cells in remote mountain and desert areas".[160] During the 10-day-longBattle of al-Hasakah, they won a "partial strategic victory and major propaganda victory" with "hundreds of prisoners, including important Emirs, being freed" from the makeshift prison in the city of Hasaka.[161][162][163][164][165] In the fighting 346 IS fighters were killed, and the anti-IS Syrian Democratic Forces arrested 1,100 prisoners, but a total of 400 prisoners were found to be missing.[166][167] IS also killed 10 soldiers and an officer storming an army outpost in Diyala Province, attacking the base from three sides late at night.[160]
On 3 February 2022, al-Qurashi killed himself, and members of his family, by triggering a large bomb during a raid by the U.S.Joint Special Operations Command.[168] He was succeeded byAbu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, who held this position until being killed in Syria on 15 October 2022. His successor,Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, was the first Syrian to serve as a caliph, and was killed in Syria on 29 April 2023. His successor and current caliph isAbu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
As of June 2023, the U.S. Department of State found "worrisome signs" that IS's "core leadership is strengthening control over its global network of affiliates," and that its affiliates are "pooling resources" and "growing capabilities", despite a "series of key losses".[169]
In 2024, at least 10,000 IS fighters were still active in Syria, according to estimates by the Kurdish-ledSDF.[170] As of 2025, approximately 10,000 suspected IS fighters and their supporters were being held in Syrian detention centers, with tens of thousands of their wives and children living in secure camps.[171][172] Some former IS members were released from prison during anamnesty in Iraq in 2025.[173]
IS has claimed responsibility for a number of high-profileterrorist attacks outside Iraq and Syria, including a mass shooting ata Tunisian tourist resort (38 European tourists killed),[174] theSuruç bombing in Turkey (33 leftist and pro-Kurdish activists killed), theTunisian National Museum attack (24 foreign tourists and Tunisians killed), theSana'a mosque bombings (142 Shia civilians killed), the crash ofMetrojet Flight 9268 (224 killed, mostly Russian tourists), thebombings in Ankara (102 pro-Kurdish and leftist activists killed), thebombings in Beirut (43 Shia civilians killed), theNovember 2015 Paris attacks (130 civilians killed), the killing ofJaafar Mohammed Saad, the governor ofAden, theJanuary 2016 Istanbul bombing (11 foreign tourists killed), the2016 Brussels bombings (32 civilians killed), the2016 Atatürk Airport attack (48 foreign and Turkish civilians killed), the2016 Nice truck attack (86 civilians killed), theJuly 2016 Kabul bombing (at least 80 civilians killed, mostly ShiaHazaras), the2016 Berlin truck attack (12 civilians killed), the2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting (39 foreigners and Turks killed), the2017 Saint Petersburg Metro bombing (15 civilians killed), the 2017Manchester Arena bombing (22 civilians killed), the2017 Barcelona attacks (16 civilians killed), the2017 Tehran attacks (18 civilians killed),[175][176][177][178] the2018 Pakistan bombings (154 killed),[179] the2021 Kabul airport attack (183 killed, including the perpetrator),[180] and the 2024Crocus City Hall attack (130+ killed).[181][182]
The Saudi Arabian government reports that in one relatively short period—the first eight months of 2016—there were 25 attacks in the kingdom by IS.[183]
On 30 August 2016, a survey conducted by theAssociated Press found that around 72 mass graves have been discovered in areas that have been liberated from IS control. In total, these mass graves contain the bodies of approximately 15,000 people killed by IS. The report stated that the mass graves were evidence of genocides conducted by IS in the region, including thegenocide of Yazidis. Seventeen graves were discovered in Syria, with the rest being found in Iraq. At least 16 of the graves in Iraq contained remains that were not counted, as they are located in dangerous conflict zones. Instead, the number of dead in these graves has been estimated.[184]
On 6 November 2018, aUnited Nations report revealed over 200 mass graves of thousands of IS's victims were discovered. The grave sites, which may contain up to 12,000 bodies, were found in the northern and western Iraqi provinces ofNineveh,Kirkuk,Salah al-Din andAnbar.[185]
But American officials didn't anticipate that they would become not only adjuncts to al-Qaeda, but core members of the jihadist group. They were instrumental in the group's rebirth from the defeats inflicted on insurgents by the U.S. military, which is now back in Iraq bombing many of the same men it had already fought twice before.
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