The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL /ˈaɪsəl/) also translated as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS /ˈaɪsɪs/; Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام‎ ad-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah fīl-ʻIraq wa ash-Shām),also known by the Arabic acronym Daʿesh (داعش) and self-described as the Islamic State (IS; Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية‎ ad-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah) is a Sunni, jihadist, extremist, unrecognized state in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East.The group originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999. This group was the forerunner of Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, commonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). AQI took part in the Iraqi insurgency against US-led forces and their Iraqi allies following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2006, it joined other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council, which consolidated further into the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) shortly afterwards. At its height, the ISI enjoyed a significant presence in Al Anbar, Nineveh, Kirkuk and other areas, but in around 2008 its violent methods led to a backlash against it and a temporary decline.In April 2013, the group changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It grew significantly under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, gaining support in Iraq as a result of perceived economic and political discrimination against Iraqi Sunnis.[citation needed] After entering the Syrian Civil War, it established a large presence in the Syrian governorates of Ar-Raqqah, Idlib, Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo.In June 2014, it had at least 4,000 fighters in its ranks in Iraq,[and the CIA estimated in September 2014 that it had 20,000–31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria. It had close links to al-Qaeda until February 2014 when, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with the group, reportedly for its brutality and "notorious intractability".In October 2004, al-Zarqawi swore loyalty to Osama bin Laden and changed the name of the group to Tanẓīm Qāʻidat al-Jihād fī Bilād al-Rāfidayn, "The Organization of Jihad's Base in the Country of the Two Rivers" or "The Organization of Jihad's Base in Mesopotamia", more commonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Although the group has never called itself "al-Qaeda in Iraq", this name has frequently been used for it through its various incarnations, as Jamāʻat al-Tawḥīd wa-al-Jihād, Tanẓīm Qāʻidat al-Jihād fī Bilād al-Rāfidayn and—see below—the Mujahideen Shura Council, the Islamic State of Iraq, and ISIL/ISIS/Daʿesh. In January 2006, AQI merged with several other Iraqi insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council.Al-Zarqawi was killed in June 2006, after which the group's direction shifted again.On 12 October 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Council merged with several more insurgent factions, and on 13 October the establishment of the Dawlat al-ʻIraq al-Islāmīyah, Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) was announced. A cabinet was formed and Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi became ISI's figurehead emir, with the real power residing with the Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri. Al-Baghdadi and al-Masri were both killed in a US–Iraqi operation in April 2010; they were succeeded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current leader of ISIL. On 8 April 2013, having expanded into Syria, the group adopted the name Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.These names are translations of the Arabic name al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah fī al-ʻIrāq wa-al-Shām, with the final word al-Shām providing a description of the Levant or Greater Syria. The translated names are frequently abbreviated as ISIL/Isil or as ISIS/Isis. The group has also used the names al-Dawlah ("the State") and al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah ("the Islamic State"). These are short-forms of the Arabic name al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah fī al-ʻIrāq wa-al-Shām.

• published: 19 Oct 2014
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