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Explainer: Who are Islamic State?

What are the roots of the militant group, and why are people talking about its ‘new phase’?

ISLAMIC STATE HAS become notorious around the world for its brutal violence – including mass killings and beheadings – in the space of less than 18 months.

In that time, it has risen from regional force to global threat.

Barack Obama, before the Paris terror attacks on Friday, said that the militant group’s geographic expansion in Iraq and Syria had been contained.

Today, faced with an utterly changed geopolitical landscape in the wake of the carnage in Paris, the world’s major powers have been setting out their coordinated response to the violence, which has been claimed by IS.

Obama has declared it as an “attack on the civilised world” – and Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the tragic events in Paris showed the global community needed “to unite our efforts in fighting this evil, something we should have done a long time ago”.

So what are the roots of the group?

And how has their influence and capability grown in the year-and-a-half since they first became widely known outside of Iraq and Syria?

Paris attacks Tributes at the Le Petit Cambodge in Paris, following the terrorist attacks on Friday evening. PA WIRE PA WIRE

Islamic State – its roots and aims 

The main aim of the group is to establish a ‘caliphate’.

The idea of a caliphate – which is, roughly-speaking, the creation of a holy land for Muslims under the leadership of a ‘caliph’ – dates back to the seventh century, after the time of the prophet Muhammad’s death. Isis has resurrected the idea.

The militant group has existed in various forms since 1999 and was originally an Iraq-based affiliate of al-Qaida.

Islamic State’s current leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi – who was born in Iraq in 1971 – took over in charge in 2010.  

abu1 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, speaking in Mosul in 2014.

In 2013 Islamic State in Iraq changed its name to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – becoming known as Isis or Isil around the western world. In Arabic, Islamic State is known as Daesh.

Al-Qaida formally ended its affiliation with the group in February of 2014, having become frustrated with its independence and brutality, according to Bloomberg.

Al-Baghdadi claims to be a direct descendent of the prophet Muhammad. The US State Department has a bounty of $10 million on his head.

How much territory does it hold? 

The group took control of the western Iraqi city of Fallujah in September 2012. It began to advance across eastern parts of Syria the following spring – seizing oil wells and collecting taxes to fund its war effort as it continued its attacks.

Islamic State militants took control of Raqqah in 2014, and the Syrian city has since become the group’s de facto capital.

IS extremists seized control of Iraq’s second biggest city, Mosul, in June of last year – sending troops and residents fleeing. Members of the Iraqi military reportedly abandoned their posts as the Isis fighters advanced.

def1 A US Department of Defense map of Isis territory from April of this year. US Department of Defense US Department of Defense

According to the BBC, then-director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Matthew Olsen, said in September of 2014 that Islamic State controlled much of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin – an area similar in size to the UK.

Some 25% to 30% of Iraqi territory had been taken back from Islamic State by April of this year, the US defence department said. However, its territory in Syria remained largely unaffected.

How has it built its power? 

Islamic State’s reputation for violence and brutality spread online and via traditional media from the summer of 2014.

A series of horrific killings were carried out by the group – many presided over by the masked militant known as ‘Jihadi John’ (Mohammed Emwazi – he was the target of a US drone strike last Thursday and is now believed killed).

john1 Still image from an Islamic State video.

Among those beheaded by Islamic State in videos posted online since August 2014 were US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

In the videos, a tall masked figure clad in black and speaking in a British accent typically began one of the gruesome videos with a political rant and a kneeling hostage before him, and ended it holding an oversize knife in his hand with the headless victim lying before him in the sand.

IS militants have shown themselves to be sophisticated users of social media – and are reported to have recruiters all over the western world seeking out new fighters.

A number of other groups have also pledged allegiance to Islamic State, effectively creating ‘franchises’ – including Nigeria’s Boko Haram, as well as groups in Libya and on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Traditional advances also continued across Iraq and Syria – including May’s capture of the ancient city of Palmyra. Ramadi, the capital of the western Iraqi province of Anbar, also fell to Isis in spring of this year – months after Iraqi forces retook the city of Tikrit, backed by airstrikes.

Many of its weapons are simply captured from its enemies in the battlefield. However, the group has also had strong support from within a number of Gulf countries. War reporter David Axe told Public Radio International last year that Isis, like all Syrian opposition groups, has enjoyed support from individuals within Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“What ISIS wants, to some extent, overlaps with what certain powerful people in some of these Gulf states want, which is, for lack of a better word, a ‘Sunni-stan’ — a homogenous Sunni Muslim state in what is now Syria and Iraq,” Axe said.

Who is fighting them? 

The US began airstrikes against IS in Iraq in August of 2014. Coalition airstrikes on territory in Syria – including Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – began the following month.

Obama US Iraq Associated Press Associated Press

Britain has been involved in strikes on Iraqi territory but not in Syria. However, speaking earlier this month foreign secretary Philip Hammond said the country expected to escalate its campaign against Isis into Syria as soon as a consensus could be reached in Parliament. 

France carried out its first air-strikes against Islamic State in Syria in September of this year - destroying a training camp in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour. Like the UK, the country had previously confined its strikes to Iraqi airspace.

Backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia entered the Syrian civil war at the end of September this year – targeting rebel groups backed by western leaders, as well as Islamic State.

IS conflict An RAF Reaper UAV. PA WIRE PA WIRE

Why are people talking about a ‘new phase’ of violence?

While there has been no hard evidence as yet, it’s highly likely Islamic State’s affiliate in Egypt was behind the bombing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai desert, which crashed killing all 244 people on board last month.

It’s believed a bomb was placed in the plane’s hold before take-off. 

“The Sinai attack would be a first, and would signal that the Islamic State has become both capable of — and interested in — joining the dreadful ranks of global terrorism,”  an analysis by the Soufan Group, a private geopolitical risk assessment company, found.

Mideast Egypt Russian Plane Crash A Russian investigator walks near wreckage of the downed plane. Associated Press Associated Press

Isis were also blamed for two suicide bomb attacks that killed 100 people attending a pro-Kurdish rally in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on 11 October.

The group also claimed responsibility for twin bombs that killed 44 people in Beirut on Thursday of last week.

Friday’s events in Paris confirmed that Islamic State’s campaign of violence and terror had “gone global”, according to the analysis of many commentators.

How will the world respond? 

France has already responded to Friday’s attacks with a series of “massive” airstrikes on Isis stronghold Raqqa.

World leaders have also vowed to boost intelligence sharing, cut off terrorist funding and strengthen border security in Europe as they seek to show unity in the wake of the Paris attacks.

While US officials said President Obama viewed the attacks in France as an act of war, they cautioned he had no plans to overhaul his strategy for dismantling Islamic State.

The President later said it would be a mistake to send US troops into a ground war.

Belgium France Paris Attacks Special intervention forces sit on top of a roof as they prepare to enter a house in Brussels today. Associated Press Associated Press

Meanwhile, a crackdown on suspected accomplices of the Paris bombings has been continuing in France and Belgium.

French police carried out nearly 170 searches and arrested 23 people in raids overnight, and 104 people have been placed under house arrest over the weekend.

The Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud – a child of Moroccan immigrants – was today named by French authorities as the suspected mastermind behind the Paris attacks.

With reporting from Associated Press.

(Updated at 4.30pm to include detail on where Isis gets weapons and support – following a number of queries – DB)

Read: Paris terror attacks: Multi-city raids and manhunts as police close the net on suspects

Read: Isis ‘threatens to attack Washington’ in new video

Read: What we know about the suspected mastermind of the Paris terror attacks

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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:26 AM

    Amazing how the US sends it’s warships around the world it’s called a show of strength. Yet when others do the same it’s an act of aggression. There up to something.

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    Mute Fred North
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    Oct 12th 2023, 8:15 AM

    @: *They’re

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:20 AM

    Well if I were an Israeli or South Korean, I’d feel better knowling there was a US carrier group anchored off my coast.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 12:22 PM

    Gunboat diplomacy.

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:45 AM

    The world is going into melt down. Conflict everywhere.

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    Mute Eamon
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:36 AM

    That’s it, poke the bear.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:00 AM

    I’ve done extensive research and can’t seem to find anywhere, the exact date and time that the treaty was signed that the USA were assigned leaders of the world. They must have just assumed it.

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    Mute Zionist Shill
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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:05 AM

    @: You obviously didn’t get our memo.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:11 AM

    Who else is going to do it? Chibna? Rhw UN?

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    Mute Jack Moss
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    Oct 12th 2023, 1:41 PM

    @: if Ireland was invaded tomorrow you be all wondering when the yanks where landing in Shannon and coming to your rescue . Liberating the Irish people GOOD. Liberating the Afghan people bad . American soldiers dying for Ireland GOOD . American soldiers dying for Afghan people BAD .

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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 12th 2023, 3:00 PM

    @Jack Moss: Oh yes. They liberated those Afghani real good! And those poppy fields got liberated too.. Thank God for our boys in the US and British army. Tally ho!

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    Oct 12th 2023, 3:13 PM

    @Sean: Actually it was 40 countries that made up ISAF . There is no guaranteed any military operation is going to work . If you are scared of failure then you will never achieve anything . Thank god the rest of the world didn’t think like the Irish do otherwise the Nazis would have won WW2 . South korea would be an extension of N Korea . Millions would have died in the Balkans from ethnic cleansing . The civil war in Sierra Leon would stil be happening .

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Oct 12th 2023, 3:23 PM

    @Jack Moss: you’d think after 20 years & how many innocent civilians that had to die it might have worked. Back to square one though

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    Mute Diarmuid Hunt
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:39 PM

    @Jack Moss: Your cognitive dissonance is showing.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:27 AM

    Cant everyone just relax

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    Mute Tomasso San Roque
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:37 AM

    @: we’ll they could, but there’s weapons to be sold and wealthy donees to be satisfied.

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Oct 12th 2023, 8:48 AM

    @Tomasso San Roque: well ?

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Oct 12th 2023, 8:49 AM

    @Dave Harris: we’ll

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    Mute Jack Moss
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    Oct 12th 2023, 1:44 PM

    @Tomasso San Roque: actually weapons and munitions have a shelve life then need replaced . They are normally used for training purposes at the end of their live . You don’t need wars to sell munitions and weapons .

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Oct 12th 2023, 8:40 AM

    This coming from a sitting US President who said that “climate change” is a bigger threat to the world than nuclear war!

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Oct 12th 2023, 8:54 AM

    @mainmsam: it is ! A nuclear war might or might not kick off – it’s not definite. Climate change is actually happening.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:03 AM

    @Dave Harris: what flavours does Koolaid come in these days?

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:30 AM

    @Dave Harris: good man Dave

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    Oct 12th 2023, 12:26 PM

    @mainmsam: to be fair, he’s changing that. Nuclear war has become a greater threat in the last 3 years.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:55 AM

    Armageddon is coming, repent

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    Mute John Sheahan
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    Oct 12th 2023, 2:36 PM

    @: we’ll at least we will finally have a World Cup in our hands before it’s lights out.

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    Mute F2yxfluD
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:54 AM

    Stop winding the guy up

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    Mute Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh
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    Oct 12th 2023, 10:10 AM

    According to the Journal Russia has exhausted its ammunition. No evidence of this claim while Russia is chasing Nato officers/UAF out of bunkers Then we’ve a quote from Trump blaming Biden for handling the crisis in Israel/Palestine and a counter-response from a nobody working for Biden.
    Russia lost Moskva to a missile. The Ronald Reagan is made of 70k tonnes of steel. They all sink if you hit the spot. The Journal makes for tabloid reading with its opinions, so long as you get the facts from somewhere else, but that won’t be in the Western mainstream media.

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    Mute Tom Newell
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    Oct 12th 2023, 10:04 AM

    Just what the world doesnt need right now….

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    Oct 12th 2023, 11:06 AM

    @Tom Newell: it’s exactly what the world needs. When your neighbourhood is rioting, you need more police, not less.

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    Mute James Brohan
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    Oct 12th 2023, 10:26 AM

    These aircraft carriers are sitting ducks even for NK’s limited military.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 11:49 AM

    @James Brohan: let’s see if the North Koreans would like to test that theory.

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    Mute honey badger
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    Oct 12th 2023, 8:52 AM

    I see the little rata Putin is creeping out of his nest in Moscow. Be a nice change of scene from his bugout bunker in St.Peterburg.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:02 AM

    @honey badger: You should travel over there and confront him, let us know how you get on.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:03 AM

    @honey badger: the likely hood of you leaving your bugout bunker is increasing daily with the fact it’s day 5 since the last article about the Ukraine war. Amazing how quickly the world moved on isn’t it?

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:13 AM

    @: lol ffs.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:14 AM

    @honey badger: when are you going over to escort Russia off Ukraine’s premises?

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:15 AM

    @Is it 5 days since yesterday already?
    Silly.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:30 AM

    @honey badger: No article on the Ukraine war yesterday. The article was about how they may have found an informer who gave up information. Nothing about the actual war or the daily updates of Russia killing people, or Zelensky out with his begging bowl in 5 days. Must be terrible for you not having anywhere “show your support” to Ukraine by insulting people.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:42 AM

    @: You’re right, the article about identifying traitors who helped Russia murder over 50 ukrainian civilians has absolutely nothing to do with Russias invasion of Ukraine.
    Clown, lol.

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    Oct 12th 2023, 12:23 PM

    @honey badger: There’s the insults again. I’m sure Zelensky feels the support when you type them here.

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    Mute Dominic Leleu
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:39 AM

    Show off

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    Mute Luka Roche
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    Oct 12th 2023, 9:57 AM

    I think WW3 is brewing in the background as the decade of 2020 to 2029 has brought a wars with Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Palestine

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    Mute honey badger
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    Oct 12th 2023, 7:48 AM

    “negative ghost Rider, the pattern is full”

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    Mute Ham Hat
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    Oct 12th 2023, 4:29 PM

    Why the Comment section is open?

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    Mute K H
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    Oct 13th 2023, 2:37 AM

    It’s kicking off everywhere..Ukraine , Syria , Yemen, Palestine/Israel , The Korea’s, China / Taiwan …. the lobbyists on the hill and the weapons traders and manufacturers must think they’ve hit the jackpot .. enjoy the champagne and fine dining, while the rest of us watch the world go up in flames on our 4K Hi definition surround sound 55inch TV’s… humanity, destined to destroy itself.. but nevermind, just keep shopping. Oh dear

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