Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

ISIL, Isil, and ISIS redirect here. For other uses, lamic State of Iraq and the Levant, when al-Baghdadi ansee ISIL (disambiguation) and Isis (disambiguation).
nounced its merger with the Syrian-based group al-Nusra
Front. The group remained closely linked to al-Qaeda
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL until February 2014, when after an eight-month power
struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with ISIL, citing its failure
/asl/) is an Islamist rebel group that controls territory
[19][35]
in Iraq and Syria and also operates in eastern Libya, the to consult and notorious intransigence.
Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, and other areas of the Middle East,[22] North Africa, South Asia,[23] and Southeast
Asia.[23][24] The groups Arabic name transliteration is
ad-Dawlah al-Islmyah l 'Irq wa ash-Shm leading to the Arabic acronym Daish or DAESH. The name
is also commonly translated as the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and
abbreviated ISIS (/ass/). In June 2014 the group renamed itself the Islamic State (IS) but the new name
has been widely criticized and condemned, with the UN,
various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups refusing to use it.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

On 29 June 2014, the group proclaimed itself to

be a worldwide caliphate under the name Islamic
State,[36][37] and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named its
"caliph".[38] As caliphate it claims religious, political and
military authority over all Muslims worldwide and that
the legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organizations, becomes null by the expansion of the khilfahs (caliphs) authority and arrival of its troops to
their areas.[39][40] This is while ISILs actions have been
widely criticized around the world, with many Islamic
communities judging the group to be unrepresentative of
Islam.[41]

The United Nations has held ISIL responsible for human

rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International
has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a historic
scale. The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the European Union, the
United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Indonesia,
Canada, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, India,
and Russia. Over 60 countries are directly or indirectly
waging war against ISIL.

ISIL is known for its well-funded web and social media propaganda, which includes Internet videos of the
beheadings of soldiers, civilians, journalists, and aid
workers.see 2014 ISIL beheading incidents.

The group originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in

1999, which was renamed Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad Bilad al-Radayncommonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq
(AQI)when the group pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda
in 2004. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, AQI took
part in the Iraqi insurgency. In 2006, it joined other
Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura
Council, which shortly afterwards proclaimed the formation of an Islamic state, naming it the Islamic State
of Iraq (ISI). The ISI gained a signicant presence in
Al Anbar, Nineveh, Kirkuk and other areas, but around
2008, its violent methods, including suicide attacks on
civilian targets and the widespread killing of prisoners,
led to a backlash from Sunni Iraqis and other insurgent
groups.[lower-alpha 1]

See also: Timeline of Islamic State of Iraq and the

Levant events, Islamic State of Iraq Timeline, Syrian
Civil War Course of events and Terrorist incidents in
Iraq in 2014

1 History

Outline of history with links to content below

As Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Organization
of Monotheism and Jihad) (19992004)
As Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad Bilad al-Radayn
(al-Qaeda in Iraq) (20042006)
As Mujahideen Shura Council (2006)

The group grew signicantly under the leadership of Abu

Bakr al-Baghdadi, and after entering the Syrian Civil
War, it established a large presence in Sunni-majority
areas of Syria within the governorates of Ar-Raqqah,
Idlib, Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo.[34] Having expanded into
Syria, the group changed its name in April 2013 to the Is-

As Islamic State of Iraq (20062013)

As Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2013
2014)
As self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (June 2014
present)
1

1.1

Names

The group has had various names since it was

established.[42]
1. The group was founded in 1999 by Abu Musab alZarqawi under the name Jamat al-Tawd wa-alJihd, The Organization of Monotheism and Jihad
(JTJ).[16]
2. In October 2004, al-Zarqawi swore loyalty to Osama
bin Laden and changed the groups name to Tanm
Qidat al-Jihd f Bild al-Rdayn, The Organization of Jihads Base in Mesopotamia", commonly
known as al-Qaeda in Iraq. (AQI).[42][43] Although
the group has never called itself al-Qaeda in Iraq,
this has been its informal name over the years.[44]

HISTORY

of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as the groups primary name.[54] However, in late 2014 top US ocials shifted toward DAESH citing it was the preferred term used by Arab partners.[56]
8. On 29 June 2014, the group renamed itself the Islamic State (IS) and declared itself to be a worldwide "caliphate".[38][60][61] Accordingly, the Iraq
and Shm in the name of the Islamic State is
henceforth removed from all ocial deliberations
and communications, and the ocial name is the
Islamic State from the date of this declaration.
This name and the idea of a caliphate has been
widely criticized, with the UN, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups refusing to
use it.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

3. In January 2006, AQI merged with several other 1.2 Foundation of the group (19992006)
Iraqi insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura
Council.[45] Al-Zarqawi was killed in June 2006.
Main articles: Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, Tanzim
4. On 12 October 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Coun- Qaidat al-Jihad Bilad al-Radayn and Mujahideen
cil merged with several more insurgent factions, and Shura Council (Iraq)
on 13 October the establishment of the Dawlat alIraq al-Islmyah, Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) was
announced.[46] The leaders of this group were Abu
Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub alMasri.[47] After they were killed in a USIraqi operation in April 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became
the new leader of the group.
5. On 8 April 2013, having expanded into Syria, the
group adopted the name Islamic State of Iraq and
al-Sham, which more fully translates as Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant or Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria.[48][49][50] These names are translations of the
Arabic name al-Dawlah al-Islmyah f al-Irq waal-Shm,[51][52] al-Shm being a description of the
Levant or Greater Syria.[53] The translated names
are commonly abbreviated as ISIL or ISIS, with
a debate over which of these acronyms should be
used.[52][53] The Washington Post concluded that the
distinction between the two is not so great."[53]
6. The name Daish is often used by ISILs Arabicspeaking detractors. It is based on the Arabic letters dl, alif, ayn, and shn, which form
the acronym ( )of ISILs Arabic name alDawlah al-Islamyah f al-Irq wa-al-Shm.[54][55]
There are many dierent spellings of this acronym
with DAESH gaining acceptance. ISIL considers the name Da'ish derogatory for it sounds similar to the Arabic words Daes, one who crushes
something underfoot, and Dahes, one who sows
discord.[56][57] and reportedly uses ogging as a
punishment for those who use the name in ISILcontrolled areas.[58][59]

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Jordanian Sala

Jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his militant group
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, founded in 1999, achieved
notoriety in the early stages of the Iraq insurgency, by
not only carrying out attacks on coalition forces but conducting suicide attacks on civilian targets and beheading
hostages.[16][62]

A pair of armed anti-American insurgents in Iraq

Al-Zarqawis group grew in strength and attracted more

ghters, and in October 2004 it ocially pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, changing
its name to Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad Bilad al-Radayn
( , Organization of Jihads
Base in Mesopotamia"), also known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq
(AQI).[17][63][64] Attacks by the group on civilians, the
Iraqi Government and security forces continued to increase over the next two years. (See list of major resistance attacks in Iraq.)[65] In a letter to al-Zarqawi in
7. On 14 May 2014, the United States Department of July 2005, al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri
State announced its decision to use Islamic State outlined a four-stage plan to expand the Iraq War, which

1.3

As Islamic State of Iraq (20062013)

included expelling US forces from Iraq, establishing an 1.3 As Islamic State of Iraq (20062013)
Islamic authority, as caliphate, spreading the conict to
Iraqs secular neighbors, and clash with Israel, which the
Main article: Islamic State of Iraq
letter says was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity.[66]
According to a study compiled by US intelligence agenIn January 2006, AQI merged with several smaller
cies in early 2007, the ISIalso known as AQIplanned
Iraqi insurgent groups under an umbrella organization
to seize power in the central and western areas of the
called the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC). This was
country and turn it into a Sunni Islamic state.[74] The
claimed by Brian Fishman in the Annals of the Amerigroup built in strength and at its height enjoyed a sigcan Academy of Political and Social Science to be little
nicant presence in the Iraqi governorates of Al Anbar,
more than a media exercise and an attempt to give the
Nineveh, Kirkuk, most of Salah ad Din, parts of Babil,
group a more Iraqi avour and perhaps to distance alDiyala and Baghdad, and claimed Baqubah as a capital
Qaeda from some of al-Zarqawis tactical errors, notably
city.[75][76][77][78]
the 2005 bombings by AQI of three hotels in Amman.[67]
On 7 June, al-Zarqawi was killed in a US airstrike and was However, by late 2007, violent and indiscriminate attacks
succeeded as leader of the group by the Egyptian militant directed by rogue AQI elements against Iraqi civilians had
severely damaged the groups image and caused a loss of
Abu Ayyub al-Masri.[68][69]
support among the population, thus isolating it. In a maOn 12 October 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Counjor blow to AQI, many former Sunni militants who had
cil joined four more insurgent factions and the reprepreviously fought alongside the group started to work with
sentatives of a number of Iraqi Arab tribes, and tothe US armed forces. The US troops surge supplied the
gether they swore the traditional Arab oath of allegiance
military with more manpower for operations targeting the
known as ilf al-Muayyabn (Oath of the Scented
group, resulting in dozens of high-level AQI members be[lower-alpha 2][70][71]
Ones).
During the ceremony, the paring captured or killed.[79]
ticipants swore to free Iraqs Sunnis from what they described as Shia and foreign oppression, and to further the al-Qaeda seemed to have lost its foothold in Iraq and
appeared to be severely crippled.[80] During 2008, a sename of Allah and restore Islam to glory.[lower-alpha 3][70]
ries of US and Iraqi oensives managed to drive out the
On 13 October 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Council
AQI-aligned insurgents from their former safe havens,
declared the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq
such as the Diyala and Al Anbar governorates and the
(ISI), comprising Iraqs six mostly Sunni Arab goverembattled capital of Baghdad, to the area of the northnorates, with Abu Omar al-Baghdadi being announced as
ern city of Mosul, the latest of the Iraq Wars major
[46][65]
its Emir.
Al-Masri was given the title of Minister
battlegrounds.[81] By 2008, the ISI was describing itself
[72]
of War within the ISIs ten-member cabinet. The decas being in a state of extraordinary crisis.[82] Its violaration of statehood was met with hostile criticism, not
lent attempts to govern its territory led to a backlash from
only from ISIs jihadist rivals in Iraq, but from leading
Sunni Iraqis and other insurgent groups and a temporary
[73]
jihadist ideologues outside the country.
decline in the group, which was attributable to a number
of factors,[83] notably the Anbar Awakening.
In late 2009, the commander of the US forces in Iraq,
General Ray Odierno, stated that the ISI has transformed
signicantly in the last two years. What once was dominated by foreign individuals has now become more and
more dominated by Iraqi citizens.[84] On 18 April 2010,
the ISIs two top leaders, Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu
Omar al-Baghdadi, were killed in a joint US-Iraqi raid
near Tikrit.[85] In a press conference in June 2010, General Odierno reported that 80% of the ISIs top 42 leaders, including recruiters and nanciers, had been killed or
captured, with only eight remaining at large. He said that
they had been cut o from al-Qaedas leadership in Pakistan, and that improved intelligence had enabled the successful mission in April that led to the killing of al-Masri
A joint USIraqi training exercise near Ramadi in November and al-Baghdadi; in addition, the number of attacks and
2009. The Islamic State of Iraq had declared the city to be its casualty gures in Iraq for the rst ve months of 2010
were the lowest since 2003.[86][87][88]
capital.
On 16 May 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was appointed
the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq.[89][90] AlBaghdadi replenished the groups leadership, many of

4
whom had been killed or captured, by appointing former Ba'athist military and intelligence ocers who had
served during the Saddam Hussein regime. These men,
nearly all of whom had spent time imprisoned by the US
military, came to make up about one-third of Baghdadis
top 25 commanders. One of them was a former Colonel,
Samir al-Khlifawi, also known as Haji Bakr, who became
the overall military commander in charge of overseeing
the groups operations.[91][92]

HISTORY

merger, and appointed an emissary to oversee relations

between them to put an end to tensions.[101] In the same
month, al-Baghdadi released an audio message rejecting al-Zawahiris ruling and declaring that the merger
was going ahead.[102] In October 2013, al-Zawahiri ordered the disbanding of ISIL, putting al-Nusra Front in
charge of jihadist eorts in Syria,[103] but al-Baghdadi
contested al-Zawahiris ruling on the basis of Islamic
jurisprudence,[102] and his group continued to operate in
In July 2012, al-Baghdadi released an audio statement on- Syria. In February 2014, after an eight-month power
struggle, al-Qaeda disavowed any relations with ISIL.[35]
line announcing that the group was returning to the former strongholds from which US troops and their Sunni According to journalist Sarah Birke, there are signiallies had driven them prior to the withdrawal of US cant dierences between the al-Nusra Front and ISIL.
troops.[93] He also declared the start of a new oensive in While al-Nusra actively calls for the overthrow of the AsIraq called Breaking the Walls, which was aimed at free- sad government, ISIL tends to be more focused on estabing members of the group held in Iraqi prisons.[93] Vio- lishing its own rule on conquered territory. ISIL is far
lence in Iraq began to escalate that month, and by July more ruthless in building an Islamic state, carrying out
2013, monthly fatalities had exceeded 1,000 for the rst sectarian attacks and imposing sharia law immediately.
time since April 2008.[94] The Breaking the Walls cam- While al-Nusra has a large contingent of foreign ghtpaign culminated in July 2013, with the group carrying ers, it is seen as a home-grown group by many Syrians;
out simultaneous raids on Taji and Abu Ghraib prison, by contrast, ISIL ghters have been described as foreign
freeing more than 500 prisoners, many of them veterans 'occupiers" by many Syrian refugees.[104] It has a strong
of the Iraqi insurgency.[94][95]
presence in central and northern Syria, where it has instituted sharia in a number of towns.[104] The group reportedly controlled the four border towns of Atmeh, al-Bab,
1.3.1 Syrian Civil War (2011present)
Azaz and Jarablus, allowing it to control the entrance and
exit from Syria into Turkey.[104] Foreign ghters in Syria
In March 2011, protests began in Syria against the gov- include Russian-speaking jihadists who were part of Jaish
ernment of Bashar al-Assad. In the following months, vi- al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA).[105] In November 2013,
olence between demonstrators and security forces led to a the JMAs Chechen leader Abu Omar al-Shishani swore
gradual militarisation of the conict.[96] In August 2011, an oath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi;[106] the group then
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi began sending Syrian and Iraqi ISI split between those who followed al-Shishani in joining
members experienced in guerilla warfare across the bor- ISIL and those who continued to operate independently
der into Syria in order to establish an organization inside in the JMA under new leadership.[107]
the country. Led by a Syrian known as Abu MuhamIn January 2014, rebels aliated with the Islamic Front
mad al-Jawlani, this group began to recruit ghters and
and the US-trained Free Syrian Army[108] launched an
establish cells throughout the country.[97][98] On 23 Janoensive against ISIL militants in and around the city
uary 2012, the group announced its formation as Jabhat
of Aleppo in Syria.[109][110] In May 2014, Ayman alal-Nusra li Ahl as-ShamJabhat al-Nusramore comZawahiri ordered al-Nusra Front to stop its attacks on
monly known as al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra grew rapidly
its rival, ISIL.[111] In June 2014, after continued ghting
into a capable ghting force, with popular support among
between the two groups, al-Nusras branch in the Syrian
Syrians opposed to the Assad regime.[97]
town of Al-Bukamal pledged allegiance to ISIL.[112][113]
In mid-June 2014, ISIL captured the Trabil crossing on
the JordanIraq border,[114] the only border crossing be1.4 As Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant tween the two countries.[115] ISIL has received some pub(20132014)
lic support in Jordan, albeit limited, partly owing to state
repression there,[116] but ISIL has undertaken a recruitOn 8 April 2013, al-Baghdadi released an audio state- ment drive in Saudi Arabia,[117] where tribes in the north
ment in which he announced that the al-Nusra Front are linked to those in western Iraq and eastern Syria.[118]
had been established, nanced, and supported by the Islamic State of Iraq,[99] and that the two groups were
merging under the name Islamic State of Iraq and AlSham.[48] Al-Jawlani issued a statement denying the 1.5 As self-proclaimed Islamic State (June
2014present)
merger, and complaining that neither he nor anyone else
in al-Nusras leadership had been consulted about it.[100]
In June 2013, Al Jazeera reported that it had obtained See also: 2014 ISIL beheading incidents, American-led
a letter written by al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, intervention in Syria, 2014 American-led intervention
addressed to both leaders, in which he ruled against the in Iraq, Iranian intervention in Iraq (2014present),

5
Military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq had failed.[128] On 10 November 2014, a major faction
and the Levant, Northern Iraq oensive (June 2014) and of the Egyptian militant group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis also
Turkish involvement in the 2014 military intervention pledged its allegiance to ISIL.[129]
against ISIL
On 29 June 2014, the group proclaimed a worldwide
caliphate,[36] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadiknown by his supporters as Amir al-Mu'minin, Caliph Ibrahimwas
named its caliph, and the group renamed itself the "Islamic State".[38] As caliphate, it claims religious, political
and military authority over all Muslims worldwide.[37][40]
The concept of a caliphate and the name Islamic State
has been rejected by governments and Muslim leaders
worldwide.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]
In June and July 2014, Jordan and Saudi Arabia moved
troops to their borders with Iraq, after Iraq lost control of, or withdrew from, strategic crossing points that
had then come under the control of ISIL or tribes that
supported ISIL.[115][119] There was speculation that Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had ordered a withdrawal
of troops from the IraqSaudi crossings in order to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia and bring the threat of
Isis over-running its borders as well.[118]

2 Group goals, structure and characteristics

2.1 Goals
From at least since 2004, a signicant goal of the group
has been the foundation of an Islamic state.[130][131]
Specically, ISIL has sought to establish itself as a
caliphate, an Islamic state led by a group of religious
authorities under a supreme leadercaliphwho is believed to be the successor to Muhammad.[132] In June
2014, ISIL published a document in which it claimed
to have traced the lineage of its leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi back to Muhammad,[132] and upon proclaiming a new caliphate on 29 June, the group appointed alBaghdadi as its caliph. As caliph, he demands the allegiance of all devout Muslims worldwide according to Islamic jurisprudence (qh).[133]

In July 2014, ISIL recruited more than 6,300 ghters,

according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
some of whom were thought to have previously fought for
the Free Syrian Army.[120] On 3 August 2014, ISIL captured the towns of Zumar, Sinjar, and Wana in northern
Iraq.[121] The need for food and water for thousands of
Yazidis, who ed up a mountain out of fear of approaching hostile ISIL militants, and the threat of genocide to
Yazidis and others as announced by ISIL, in addition
to protecting Americans in Iraq and supporting Iraq in
its ght against the group, were reasons for the US to
launch a humanitarian mission on 7 August 2014, to aid
the Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar[122] and to start an
aerial bombing campaign in Iraq on 8 August.
On 11 October 2014, ISIL dispatched 10,000 militants
from Syria and Mosul to capture the Iraqi capital city of
Baghdad,[123] and Iraqi Army forces and Anbar tribesmen threatened to abandon their weapons if the US did
not send in ground troops to halt ISILs advance.[124]
On 13 October, ISIL ghters advanced to within 25
kilometers15.5 milesof Baghdad Airport.[125]

Areas controlled (as of 31 December 2014) Remaining territory

in countries with ISIL presence

When the caliphate was announced, ISIL stated: The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the khilafahs [caliphates]
authority and arrival of its troops to their areas.[132] This
At the end of October 2014, 800 radical militants in con- was a rejection of the political divisions in the Midtrol of the Libyan city of Derna pledged their allegiance dle East that were established by Western powers during
to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, thus making Derna the rst World War I in the SykesPicot Agreement.[134][135][136]
city outside Syria and Iraq to be a part of the so-called
Islamic State caliphate.[126] On 2 November 2014, according to the Associated Press, in response to the coali- 2.2 Territorial control
tion airstrikes, representatives from Ahrar ash-Sham attended a signicant meeting with al-Nusra Front, the Main article: ISIL territorial claims
Khorasan Group, ISIL, and Jund al-Aqsa, which sought
to unite these hard-line groups against the US-led CoaliIn Iraq and Syria, ISIL uses many of the existing
tion and moderate Syrian rebel groups.[127] However, by
Governorate boundaries to subdivide its claimed terri14 November 2014, it was revealed that the negotiations
tory; it calls these divisions wilayah.[137] After a series of

GROUP GOALS, STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS

expansions, as of November 2014, it claims provinces and

controls territory in Iraq, Syria, Sinai, and eastern Libya.
ISIL also claims provinces and has members in Algeria,
Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Turkey, but
it does not control territory in these areas.

tricity and water. Foreign expertise supplements Syrian

ocials in running civilian institutions. Only the police
and soldiers are ISIL ghters, who receive conscated
lodging previously owned by non-Sunnis and others who
ed. Welfare services are provided, price controls established, and taxes imposed on the wealthy. ISIL runs a
soft power program in the areas under its control in Iraq
2.3 Leadership and governance
and Syria, which includes social services, religious lectures and da'wahproselytizingto local populations. It
Further information: List of Islamic State of Iraq and the also performs public services such as repairing roads and
Levant members
maintaining the electricity supply.[141]
The group is headed and run by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
British security expert Frank Gardner has concluded
that ISILs prospects of maintaining control and rule are
greater in 2014 than they were in 2006. Despite being
as brutal as before, ISIL has become well entrenched
among the population and is not likely to be dislodged by
ineective Syrian or Iraqi forces. It has replaced corrupt
governance with functioning locally controlled authorities, services have been restored and there are adequate
supplies of water and oil. With Western-backed intervention being unlikely, the group will continue to hold their
ground and rule an area the size of Pennsylvania for
the foreseeable future, he said.[137][142] Further solidifying ISIL rule is the control of wheat production, which
is roughly 40% of Iraqs production. ISIL has maintained food production, crucial to governance and popular support.[143]

2.4 Ideology and beliefs

Mugshot of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by US armed forces while in

detention at Camp Bucca in 2004

with a cabinet of advisers. There are two deputy leaders, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani(KIA) for Iraq and Abu Ali
al-Anbari for Syria, and 12 local governors in Iraq and
Syria. Beneath the leaders are councils on nance, leadership, military matters, legal mattersincluding decisions
on executionsforeign ghters assistance, security, intelligence and media. In addition, a Shura council has
the task of ensuring that all decisions made by the governors and councils comply with the groups interpretation
of sharia.[138]
The Wall Street Journal estimated in September 2014 that
eight million Iraqis and Syrians live in areas controlled by
ISIL.[139] Ar-Raqqah in Syria is the de facto headquarters, and is said to be a test case of ISIL governance.[140]
As of September 2014, governance in Ar-Raqqah has
been under the total control of ISIL where it has rebuilt the structure of modern government in less than a
year. Former government workers from the Assad regime
maintain their jobs after pledging allegiance to ISIL. Institutions, restored and restructured, are providing services. The Ar-Raqqah dam continues to provide elec-

ISIL is a Wahhabi extremist group. It follows an extreme interpretation of Islam, promotes religious violence, and regards those who do not agree with its interpretations as indels or apostatessee takrism.[144]
ISILs philosophy is well represented by the symbolism
in the Black Standard variant of the legendary battle ag
of Muhammad that it has adopted. The ag shows the
seal of the Muhammad within a white circle, with the
phrase above it, "There is no God but Allah".[145] Such
symbolism has been said to point to ISILs belief that
it represents the restoration of the caliphate of early Islam, with all of the political, religious and eschatological
ramications that this would imply.[146] Saudi Arabia was
criticised by Noam Chomsky in October 2014 of having
long been the major source of funding for ISIS as well
as providing its ideological roots (i.e. Wahhabism).[147]
According to Owen Jones at The Guardian, Wahhabi jihadists abroad receive ideological and material backing
from within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and America knows this, with Hillary Clinton having called Saudi
donors the most signicant source of funding to Sunni
terrorist groups worldwide.[148]
According to some observers, ISIL emerged from the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, the rst post-Ottoman
Islamist group dating back to the late 1920s in Egypt.[149]
It adheres to global jihadist principles and follows the
hard-line ideology of al-Qaeda and many other modern-

7
day jihadist groups.[144][150]

released from prison in Jordan in June 2014 and accuses

[159]
However, other sources trace the groups roots not to the ISIL of driving a wedge between Muslims.
Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood and the more mainstream jihadism of al-Qaeda, but to Wahhabism. The
3 Designation as a terrorist organiNew York Times wrote:
For their guiding principles, the leaders of
the Islamic State ... are open and clear about
their almost exclusive commitment to the Wahhabi movement of Sunni Islam. The group circulates images of Wahhabi religious textbooks
from Saudi Arabia in the schools it controls.
Videos from the groups territory have shown
Wahhabi texts plastered on the sides of an ofcial missionary van.[151]
Reecting the ideology of modern Wahhabism, which
aims to return to the early days of Islam, ISIL rejects
all innovations in the religion, which it believes corrupt its original spirit. It condemns later caliphates and
the Ottoman Empire for deviating from what it calls
pure Islam,[152] and seeks to revive the original Wahhabi project of the restoration of the caliphate governed
by strict Salast doctrine. Following Wahhabi tradition,
ISIL condemns the followers of secular law as disbelievers, putting the current Saudi regime in that category.[153]
Salasts such as ISIL believe that only a legitimate authority can undertake the leadership of jihad, and that the rst
priority over other areas of combat, such as ghting nonMuslim countries, is the purication of Islamic society.
For example, ISIL regards the Palestinian Sunni group
Hamas as apostates who have no legitimate authority to
lead jihad and it regards ghting Hamas as the rst step
toward confrontation with Israel.[151][154]
2.4.1

Theological objections

According to The New York Times, All of the most inuential jihadist theorists are criticizing the Islamic State
as deviant, calling its self-proclaimed caliphate null and
void and have denounced it for its beheading of journalists and aid workers.[151] ISIL is widely denounced
by a broad range of Islamic clerics, including al-Qaedaoriented and Saudi clerics.[151][155]
Sunni critics, including Sala and jihadist muftis such as
Adnan al-Aroor and Abu Basir al-Tartusi, say that ISIL
and related terrorist groups are not Sunnis, but modernday KhawarijMuslims who have stepped outside the
mainstream of Islamserving an imperial anti-Islamic
agenda.[156][157][158][159] Other critics of ISILs brand of
Sunni Islam include Salasts who previously publicly supported jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda, for example the
Saudi government ocial Saleh Al-Fawzan, known for
his extremist views, who claims that ISIL is a creation
of Zionists, Crusaders and Safavids, and the JordanianPalestinian writer Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, the former spiritual mentor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was

zation
Main articles: List of designated terrorist organizations
and Terrorism
The United Nations Security Council in its Resolution
1267 (1999) described Osama bin Laden and his alQaeda associates as operators of a network of terrorist
training camps.[177] The UNs Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee rst listed ISIL in its Sanctions List under the
name Al-Qaida in Iraq on 18 October 2004, as an entity/group associated with al-Qaeda. On 2 June 2014,
the group was added to its listing under the name Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The European Union
adopted the UN Sanctions List in 2002.[162]
Many world leaders and government spokespeople have
called ISIL a terrorist group or banned it, without their
countries having formally designated it as such. Some
examples:
The Government of Germany banned ISIL in September
2014. Activities banned include donations to the group,
recruiting ghters, holding ISIL meetings and distributing its propaganda, ying ISIL ags, wearing ISIL symbols and all ISIL activities. The terror organisation Islamic State is a threat to public safety in Germany as
well, de Mazire said. Todays ban is directed solely
against terrorists who abuse religion for their criminal
goals. The ban does not mean ISIL has been outlawed
as a foreign terrorist organisation, as that requires a court
judgement.[178]
In October 2014 Switzerland banned ISILs activities
in the country, including propaganda and nancial support of the ghters, with prison sentences as potential
penalties.[179]
Media sources worldwide have also called ISIL a terrorist
organization.[180][181][182][183][184]

4 Human rights abuse and war

crime ndings
In July 2014, the BBC reported the United Nations' chief
investigator as stating: Fighters from the Islamic State
in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) may be added to a list of war
crimes suspects in Syria.[185] By June 2014, according to
United Nations reports, ISIL had killed hundreds of prisoners of war[186] and over 1,000 civilians.[187][188][189] In
August 2014, the UN accused ISIL of committing mass
atrocities and war crimes,[190][191] including the mass

4 HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND WAR CRIME FINDINGS

killing of up to 250 Syrian Army soldiers near Tabqa Air

base.[186] Other known killing of military prisoners took
place in Camp Speicher (1,0951,700 Iraqi soldiers shot
and thousands more missing)[192][193] and the Shaer
gas eld (200 Syrian soldiers shot).[194]
In early September 2014, the United Nations Human
Rights Council agreed to send a team to Iraq and Syria to
investigate the abuses and killings being carried out by the
ISIL on an unimaginable scale. Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad,
the newly appointed UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, urged world leaders to step in to protect women
and children suering at the hands of ISIL militants, who
he said were trying to create a house of blood. He appealed to the international community to concentrate its
eorts on ending the conict in Iraq and Syria.[195]
In November 2014, the UN Commission of Inquiry
on Syria said that ISIL was committing crimes against
humanity.[196][197] A report by Human Rights Watch in
November 2014 accused ISIL groups in control of Derna,
Libya of war crimes and human rights abuses and of terrorizing residents. Human Rights Watch documented
three apparent summary executions and at least ten public oggings by the Islamic Youth Shura Council, which
joined ISIL in November. It also documented the beheading of three Derna residents and dozens of seemingly
politically-motivated assassinations of judges, public ofcials, members of the security forces and others. Sarah
Leah Watson, Director of HRW Middle East and North
Africa, said: Commanders should understand that they
may face domestic or international prosecution for the
grave rights abuses their forces are committing.[198]

in northern Iraq on a historic scale. In a special report

released on 2 September 2014, it describes how ISIL has
systematically targeted non-Arab and non-Sunni Muslim communities, killing or abducting hundreds, possibly
thousands, and forcing more than 830,000 others to ee
the areas it has captured since 10 June 2014. Among
these people are Assyrian Christians, Turkmen Shia,
Shabak Shia, Yazidis, Kaka'i and Sabean Mandeans, who
have lived together for centuries in Nineveh province,
large parts of which are now under ISILs control.[203][204]
Among the known killings of religious and minority
group civilians carried out by ISIL are those in the villages and towns of Quiniyeh (7090 Yazidis killed),
Hardan (60 Yazidis killed), Sinjar (200500 Yazidis
killed), Ramadi Jabal (6070 Yazidis killed), Dhola (50
Yazidis killed), Khana Sor (100 Yazidis killed), Hardan
(250300 Yazidis killed), al-Shimal (dozens of Yazidis
killed), Khocho (400 Yazidis killed and 1,000 abducted),
Jadala (14 Yadizis killed)[205] and Beshir (700 Shia Turkmen killed),[206] and others committed near Mosul (670
Shia inmates of the Badush prison killed),[206] and in
Tal Afar prison, Iraq (200 Yazidis killed for refusing
conversion).[205] The UN estimated that 5,000 Yazidis
were killed by ISIL during the takeover of parts of northern Iraq in August 2014.[207] In late May 2014, 150
Kurdish boys from Kobani aged 1416 were abducted
and subjected to torture and abuse, according to Human
Rights Watch.[208] In the Syrian towns of Ghraneij, Abu
Haman and Kashkiyeh 700 members of the Sunni AlShaitat tribe were killed for attempting an uprising against
ISIL control.[209][210] The UN reported that in June 2014
ISIL had killed a number of Sunni Islamic clerics who
refused to pledge allegiance to it.[201]

Speaking of ISILs methods, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has stated that the group seeks
to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate ev- Christians living in areas under ISIL control who want to
to
ery aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, remain in the caliphate face three options: converting
[211][212]
Islam,
paying
a
religious
levyjizyaor
death.
[199]
and the provision of services to those who obey.
We oer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this
they will have nothing but the sword, ISIL said.[213] ISIL
4.1 Religious and minority group persecu- had already set similar rules for Christians in Ar-Raqqah,
tion
once one of Syrias more liberal cities.[214][215]
See also: Persecution of Assyrians by ISIL and
4.2
Persecution of Yazidis by ISIL

Treatment of civilians

During the Iraqi conict in 2014, ISIL released dozens

of videos showing its ill treatment of civilians, many of
whom had apparently been targeted on the basis of their
religion or ethnicity. Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned of war crimes being
committed in the Iraqi war zone, and disclosed a UN
report of ISIL militants murdering Iraqi Army soldiers
and 17 civilians in a single street in Mosul. The UN reported that in the 17 days from 5 to 22 June, ISIL killed
more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians and injured more than
1,000.[187][188][189] After ISIL released photographs of its
Amnesty International has held ISIL responsible for the ghters shooting scores of young men, the UN declared
ethnic cleansing of ethnic and religious minority groups that cold-blooded executions by militants in northern
ISIL compels people in the areas that it controls to declare
Islamic creed and live according to its interpretation of
Sunni Islam and sharia law.[180][200] There have been
many reports of the groups use of death threats, torture
and mutilation to compel conversion to Islam,[180][200]
and of clerics being killed for refusal to pledge allegiance
to the so-called Islamic State.[201] ISIL directs violence
against Shia Muslims, indigenous Assyrian, Chaldean,
Syriac and Armenian Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Shabaks
and Mandeans in particular.[202]

4.3

Child soldiers

Iraq almost certainly amounted to war crimes.[216]

ISILs advance in Iraq in mid-2014 was accompanied by
continuing violence in Syria. On 29 May, ISIL raided a
village in Syria and at least 15 civilians were killed, including, according to Human Rights Watch, at least six
children.[217] A hospital in the area conrmed that it had
received 15 bodies on the same day.[218] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that on 1 June, a
102-year-old man was killed along with his whole family in a village in Hama province.[219] According to The
Reuters 1878 people were killed in Syria by ISIL during
the last six months of 2014, most of them civilians.[220]
In Mosul, ISIL has implemented a sharia school curriculum which bans the teaching of art, music, national history, literature and Christianity. Although Charles Darwins theory of evolution has never been taught in Iraqi
schools, the subject has been banned from the school
curriculum. Patriotic songs have been declared blasphemous, and orders have been given to remove certain pictures from school textbooks.[221][222][223][224] Iraqi parents have largely boycotted schools in which the new curriculum has been introduced.[225]
After capturing cities in Iraq, ISIL issued guidelines on
how to wear clothes and veils. ISIL warned women in
the city of Mosul to wear full-face veils or face severe
punishment.[226] A cleric told Reuters in Mosul that ISIL
gunmen had ordered him to read out the warning in his
mosque when worshippers gathered. ISIL ordered the
faces of both male and female mannequins to be covered, in an order which also banned the use of naked
mannequins.[227] In Ar-Raqqah the group uses its two battalions of female ghters in the city to enforce compliance
by women with its strict laws on individual conduct.[228]
ISIL released 16 notes labeled Contract of the City, a
set of rules aimed at civilians in Nineveh. One rule stipulated that women should stay at home and not go outside
unless necessary. Another rule said that stealing would
be punished by amputation.[141][229] In addition to banning the sale and use of alcoholwhich is customary in
Muslim cultureISIL has banned the sale and use of
cigarettes and hookah pipes. It has also banned music
and songs in cars, at parties, in shops and in public, as
well as photographs of people in shop windows.[230]
According to The Economist, dissidents in the ISIL capital of Ar-Raqqah report that all 12 of the judges who
now run its court system ... are Saudis. Saudi practices
also followed by the group include the establishment of
religious police to root out vice and enforce attendance
at salat prayers, the widespread use of capital punishment,
and the destruction of Christian churches and non-Sunni
mosques or their conversion to other uses.[231]

4.3 Child soldiers

ISIL has recruited Iraqi children as young as nine to its
ranks, who can be seen with masks on their faces and guns
in their hands patrolling the streets of Mosul and even
making arrests.[232] According to a report by the magazine Foreign Policy, children as young as six are recruited
or kidnapped and sent to military and religious training
camps, where they practise beheading with dolls and are
indoctrinated with the religious views of ISIL. Children
are used as human shields on front lines and to provide
blood transfusions for Islamic State soldiers, according
to Shelly Whitman of the Romo Dallaire Child Soldiers
Initiative. The second instalment of a VICE News documentary about ISIL focused on how the group is specically grooming children for the future. A spokesman told
VICE News that those under the age of 15 go to sharia
camp to learn about religion, while those older than 16
can go to military training camp. Children are also used
for propaganda. According to a UN report, In midAugust, ISIL entered a cancer hospital in Mosul, forced
at least two sick children to hold the ISIL ag and posted
the pictures on the internet. Misty Buswell, a Save the
Children representative working with refugees in Jordan,
said, Its not an exaggeration to say we could lose a whole
generation of children to trauma.[233]

4.4 Sexual violence and slavery

Main articles: Sexual violence in the Iraqi insurgency
and Slavery in 21st century Islamism
See also: Wartime sexual violence
There are many reports and allegations of sexual abuse
and enslavement in ISIL controlled areas of women and
girls, predominantly from the minority Christian and
Yazidi communities.[234][235] According to one report,
ISILs capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnap and rape.[236][237][238] The Guardian reported
that ISILs extremist agenda extended to womens bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped.[239] Fighters are told that they are
free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women.[240]
A Baghdad-based womens rights activist, Basma alKhateeb, said that a culture of violence existed in Iraq
against women generally and felt sure that sexual violence against women was happening in Mosul involving
not only ISIL but all armed groups.[241] During a meeting
with Nouri al-Maliki, British Foreign Minister William
Hague said with regard to ISIL: Anyone glorifying, supporting or joining it should understand that they would
be assisting a group responsible for kidnapping, torture,
executions, rape and many other hideous crimes.[242]
According to Martin Williams in The Citizen, some hardline Salasts apparently regard extramarital sex with multiple partners as a legitimate form of holy war and it is

10

4 HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND WAR CRIME FINDINGS

dicult to reconcile this with a religion where some ad- girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jiherents insist that women must be covered from head to had.[258][259]
toe, with only a narrow slit for the eyes.[243]
Haleh Esfandiari from the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local
women by ISIL militants after they have captured an area.
They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave
market and try to sell them. The younger girls ... are
raped or married o to ghters, she said, adding, Its
based on temporary marriages, and once these ghters
have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them
on to other ghters.[244] Speaking of Yazidi women captured by ISIL, Nazand Begikhani said, These women
have been treated like cattle... They have been subjected
to physical and sexual violence, including systematic rape
and sex slavery. They've been exposed in markets in Mosul and in Raqqa, Syria, carrying price tags.[245] Yazidi
girls in Iraq allegedly raped by ISIL ghters have committed suicide by jumping to their death from Mount Sinjar,
as described in a witness statement.[246]
A United Nations report issued on 2 October 2014, based
on 500 interviews with witnesses, said that ISIL took
450500 women and girls to Iraqs Nineveh region in August, where 150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly from the Yazidi and Christian communities, were
reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL
ghters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves.[235] In
mid-October, the UN conrmed that 5,0007,000 Yazidi
women and children had been abducted by ISIL and sold
into slavery.[247][248] In November 2014 The New York
Times reported on the accounts given by ve who escaped
ISIL of their captivity and abuse.[249] In its digital magazine Dabiq, ISIL explicitly claimed religious justication for enslaving Yazidi women.[250][251][252][253][254][255]
According to The Wall Street Journal, ISIL appeals to
apocalyptic beliefs and claims justication by a Hadith
that they interpret as portraying the revival of slavery as a
precursor to the end of the world.[256] Women who have
run away from ISISs prison like Mosuls Badush prison
and the families of those still held captive have come to
Pakhshan Zangana for help. As the head of the High
Council of Womens Aairs for The Kurdish Regional
Government Zangana is trying to bring attention to the
womens plight and plead for intervention on their behalf
but fears that her eorts have stalled. We have women
and families calling in every day, the situation is getting
desperate, said Zangana. Without outside aid, Zangana
has turned to asking for private donations to try to buy the
captured Yazidi women back from ISIS before they are
sold into sexual slavery and tracking them to multiple
third parties (other ghters). This is not just a Kurdish
or Iraqi problem, this is an international crisis, Zangana
said. Many of the survivors were adamant that the ghters
were foreign nationals from all over the world identifying
them from the dierent languages they spoke.[257]

4.4.1 Claimed justications based on Islamic Religious text

See also: Islamic views on slavery and Ma malakat
aymanukum
In late 2014 ISIL released and distributed a pamphlet in
Mosul on the treatment of female slaves, that ghters are
allowed to have sex with adolescent girls, and that it is
also acceptable to beat and trade sex slaves.[260] On the
contrary, it says it is permissible to beat a slave so long
as its a form of disciplinary beating and also that it is
forbidden for ghters to hit the female captives in the
face. However, the pamphlets says a woman can't be
sold if she becomes impregnated by her owner. In addition to that some pamphlets explicitly cite the Quran
to back up its claims. In answering whether it is acceptable to have sex with a captive, the pamphlet states, It
is permissible to have sexual intercourse with the female
captive. Allah the almighty said: "(Successful are the believers) who guard their chastity, except to their wives
or (the captives and slaves) that their right hands possess, for then they are free from blame (Koran 23:56).O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee
thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and
those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war (Koran 33:50). As of
mid December 2014 ISIS released 'abhorrent' sex slaves
pamphlet with 27 tips for militants on taking, punishing
and raping female captives, many people living in that
part were taken aback after they read the pamphlets and
stated that they never expected this move from the ISIS
government[261][262][263][264][265][266][267]

The ISIL claims religious justication for the treatment of

its captives based on the Hadith and Quran, positions that
received widespread criticism for explicitly citing verses
from the Quran by Muslim scholars and the rest of the
Muslim world. They publicly express their right to enslave and rape captive non-Muslim women citing Quran
verses.[268][269][270][271] They express their motive as to
ethnically cleanse their self-proclaimed state of all nonbelievers.[272] Non-Muslim women have reportedly been
married o to ghters against their will. The mantra
is that the caliphate needs new converts and children to
spread, and women can provide both. Their narrative
may well be wrapped up in the familiar language of jihad
and ghting for the cause of Allah.[273] Before Shaytan
(Satan) reveals his doubts to the weak-minded and weak
hearted, one should remember that enslaving the families
of the kuar and taking their women as concubines is a
rmly established aspect of the Sharias that if one were to
deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses
In December 2014 the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights of the Qur'an and the narration of the Prophet and
announced that ISIL had killed over 150 women and thereby apostatizing from Islam, states the latest issues

4.6

Beheadings and mass executions

of the ISISs glossy propaganda magazine Dabiq, named

after a site in Muslim apocalypse mythology. The main
focus of the IS ghters is towards yazidi women whom
they consider satanic and the ones who worship the devil
and are thus more prone to violence . After capture, the
Yazidi women and children are then divided according to
the Shariah amongst the ghters of the Islamic State who
participated in the Sinjar operations, after one fth of the
slaves are transferred to the Islamic States authority, they
are to be divided as Khums, enslaving women and forcing them to become wives reduces sin by protecting men
from being tempted into adultery Dabiq quoted. Khums
is a traditional tax on the spoils of war. This large-scale
enslavement of mushrik (idolater) families is probably the
rst since the abandonment of Shariah law, the magazine
added.[268][274]

4.5

Attacks on members of the press

The Committee to Protect Journalists states: Without

a free press, few other human rights are attainable.[275]
ISIL has tortured and murdered local journalists,[276][277]
creating what Reporters Without Borders calls news
blackholes in areas controlled by ISIL. ISIL ghters have
reportedly been given written directions to kill or capture
journalists.[278]
In December 2013, two suicide bombers stormed the
headaquarters of TV station Salaheddin and killed ve
journalists, after accusing the station of distorting the
image of Iraqs Sunni community. Reporters Without
Borders reported that on 7 September 2014, ISIL seized
and on 11 October publicly beheaded Raad al-Azzawi,
a TV Salaheddin cameraman from the village of Samra,
east of Tikrit.[279] As of October 2014, according to the
Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, ISIL is holding nine
journalists and has nine others under close observation in
Mosul and Salahuddin province.[278]
During 2013 and part of 2014, an ISIL unit nicknamed the Beatles acquired and held 12 Western journalists hostage, along with aid workers and other foreign
hostages, totaling 23 or 24 known hostages. A Polish
journalist Marcin Suder was captured in July 2013 but escaped four months later.[280] The unit executed American
journalists James Foley and Steven Sotlo and released
beheading videos. Eight of the other journalists were
released for ransom: Danish journalist Daniel Rye Ottosen, French journalists Didier Franois, Edouard Elias,
Nicolas Hnin, and Pierre Torres, and Spanish journalists Marc Marginedas, Javier Espinosa, and Ricardo Garca Vilanova. The unit continues to hold hostage British
journalist John Cantlie and a female aid worker.[281]

11
introduced malware to the users computer that sends details of the IP address and system each time it restarts.
That information has been enough to allow ISIL to locate
RSS supporters. The group has been targeted for kidnappings, house raids, and at least one alleged targeted
killing. At the time of writing, Isis is allegedly holding
several citizen journalists in Raqqa, according to the Citizen Lab report.[282]
On January 8, 2015, ISIL members in Libya claimed to
have executed Tunisian journalists Soene Chourabi and
Nadhir Ktari who disappeared in September 2014.[283]

4.6 Beheadings and mass executions

Main articles: 2014 ISIL beheading incidents, Beheading
video and Beheading in Islamism
An unknown number of Syrians and Iraqis, several
Lebanese soldiers, at least ten Kurds, two American journalists, one American and two British aid workers, and
three Libyans have been beheaded by the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL uses beheadings to intimidate local populations and has released a series of propaganda videos aimed at Western countries. They also
engage in public and mass executions, sometimes forcing
prisoners to dig their own graves before shooting lines of
prisoners and pushing them in.[284][285] ISIL was reported
to have beheaded about 100 foreign ghters as deserters
who tried to leave Raqqa.[286]

4.7 Destruction of cultural and religious

heritage
UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova has warned
that ISIL is destroying Iraqs cultural heritage, in what
she has termed cultural cleansing. We don't have time
to lose because extremists are trying to erase the identity, because they know that if there is no identity, there
is no memory, there is no history, she said. Referring to
the ancient cultures of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities, she said, This is a way to destroy identity. You
deprive them of their culture, you deprive them of their
history, their heritage, and that is why it goes hand in hand
with genocide. Along with the physical persecution they
want to eliminate to delete the memory of these different cultures. ... we think this is appalling, and this is
not acceptable. [287] Saad Eskander, head of Iraqs National Archives said, For the rst time you have cultural
cleansing... For the Yazidis, religion is oral, nothing is
written. By destroying their places of worship you are
killing cultural memory. It is the same with the Christians
it really is a threat beyond belief.[288]

Cyber-security group the Citizen Lab released a report

nding a possible link between ISIL and a digital attack
on Syrian citizen media group Raqqa Is Being Slaugh- In order to nance its activities, ISIL is stealing artifacts
tered Silently (RSS) Supporters received an emailed link from Syria[289] and Iraq and sending them to Europe to
to an image of supposed air strikes but clicking on the link be sold. It is estimated that ISIL raises US$200 million

12

5 CRITICISM

a year from cultural looting. UNESCO has asked for

United Nations Security Council controls on the sale of
antiquities, similar to those imposed after the 2003 Iraq
War. UNESCO is working with Interpol, national customs authorities, museums, and major auction houses in
attempts to prevent looted items being sold.[288] ISIL occupied Mosul Museum, the second most important museum in Iraq, as it was about to reopen after years of
rebuilding following the Iraq War, saying that the statues were against Islam and threatening to destroy the museums contents.[290][291]
ISIL considers worshipping at graves tantamount to idolatry, and seeks to purify the community of unbelievers.
It has used bulldozers to crush buildings and archeological sites.[291] Bernard Haykel has described Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi's creed as a kind of untamed Wahhabism,
saying, For Al Qaeda, violence is a means to an ends;
for ISIS, it is an end in itself.[151] The destruction by
ISIL in July 2014 of the tomb and shrine of the prophet
YunusJonah in Christianitythe 13th century mosque
of Imam Yahya Abu al-Qassimin, the 14th century shrine
of prophet JerjisSt George to Christiansand the attempted destruction of the Hadba minaret at the 12th century Great Mosque of Al-Nuri have been described as an
unchecked outburst of extreme Wahhabism.[292] There
were explosions that destroyed buildings dating back to
the Assyrian era", said National Museum of Iraq director Qais Rashid, referring to the destruction of the shrine
of Yunus. He cited another case where Daesh (ISIL)
gathered over 1,500 manuscripts from convents and other
holy places and burnt all of them in the middle of the city
square.[293]
There is also the fear that warfare waged on any side will
harm cultural heritage. The worst thing about wars is
that they do not distinguish between the past and the future, Mosul calligrapher and conservationist Abdallah
Ismail told a local correspondent for the German-funded
publication Niqash.org. He suggested that ISIL was taking the pulse of the local population to see how it would
react to their appetite for destruction. Philippe Lalliot,
Frances ambassador to UNESCO gave this perspective:
When people die in their tens of thousands, must we be
concerned about cultural cleansing? Yes, denitely yes
... Its because culture is a powerful incentive for dialogue
that the most extreme and the most fanatical groups strive
to annihilate it.[293] According to the London Charter
and several Hague Conventions, the destruction of historical sites and places of worship is a war crime.[294]

4.8

4.9 Cost of living

In the early days of its rule, ISIL subsidized food and gas
prices through the wealth it accumulated from oil smuggling, extortion and ransom demands. But in late 2014,
prices soared in militant-held cities. According to The
Daily Mail since the coalition airstrikes and ground operations began in Mosul and Syria, prices of most staples
have more than doubled and the war made it dicult for
products to move in and out of militant strongholds. This
has led to shortages, price-gouging and the creation of
black markets. A local Saadi Abdul-Rahman says We
are not able to pay for cooking gas, kerosene and food.
The 56-year old retired government worker stated that
The situation in Mosul is miserable. A number of factors are driving the shortages and price hikes, according to
residents in Mosul and Fallujah. The 'militants have imposed a tax on trucks and other vehicles entering their territory, which has led to a decline in business. Deliveries
are also subject to militant theft, and coalition airstrikes
and military operations make many roads impassable.
The start of winter has led to serious shortages of gasoline and kerosene in Iraqs militant-held territories. The
ocial price for a liter of gas in government-controlled
areas is 450 dinars (40 cents), but in Mosul, it sells for
four times that, or 1,700 dinars. Two hundred-liter barrels of kerosene are now sold in Mosul for 250,000 dinars
($220), versus the ocial price of 30,000 dinars.
In the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, under militant control for almost a year, residents have started cutting trees
for rewood because kerosene is in such short supply.
The city is surrounded by government troops and neardaily shelling often make parts of town too dangerous to
visit. In November 2014, the militants shut down cell
phone service in Mosul, claiming that residents were tipping o U.S.-led coalition airstrikes to their whereabouts.
Cell signals have not been restored, causing the city to
come to a virtual standstill. Workshops, factories and
markets are closed and bitterness is growing among business owners. 'Most money-transfer operations are done
by mobile calls said Osama Abdul-Aziz, the owner of
a money-transfer oce in Mosul. 'We have the option
of using the Internet, but this method is very slow and
sometimes the Internet does not work at all, which causes
big delays to our work.' Food and fuel prices have risen
sharply as a result - a 50-kilo sack of rice costs 75,000
dinars ($65), up from 10,000 ($9) about three months
ago. A cylinder of cooking gas goes for 140,000 dinars
($115).[299]

Organ tracking

5 Criticism

According to media reports, ISIL has established a system for harvesting and selling human organs from ghters, captives, and hostages, including minority children in 5.1 Islamic criticism
Mosul and other areas. ISIL is using imported teams of
doctors who are not allowed to interact with local medical ISIL has been at the receiving end of severe criticism
from other Muslims, especially religious scholars and thesta.[295][296][297][298]

5.2

International criticism

ologians. In late August 2014, the Grand Mufti of Saudi

Arabia, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh, condemned the Islamic State and al-Qaeda saying, Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on
Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way
part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and
Muslims are their rst victims.[300] In late September
2014, 126 Sunni imams and Islamic scholarsprimarily
Su[301] from around the Muslim world signed an open
letter to the Islamic States leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
explicitly rejecting and refuting his groups interpretations of Islamic scriptures, the Qur'an and hadith, used
by it to justify its actions.[302][303] "[You] have misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder ... this is a great wrong and an oence
to Islam, to Muslims and to the entire world, the letter
states.[304] It rebukes the Islamic State for its killing of
prisoners, describing the killings as heinous war crimes"
and its persecution of the Yazidis of Iraq as abominable. Referring to the self-described 'Islamic State'",
the letter censures the group for carrying out killings and
acts of brutality under the guise of jihadholy struggle
saying that its sacrice without legitimate cause, goals
and intention is not jihad at all, but rather, warmongering and criminality.[304][305] It also accuses the group of
instigating tnaseditionby instituting slavery under
its rule in contravention of the anti-slavery consensus of
the Islamic scholarly community.[304] Other scholars have
described the group as not Sunnis, but Khawarij.[306]

Kurdish demonstration against ISIL in Vienna, Austria, 10 October 2014

The groups declaration of a caliphate has been criticized

and its legitimacy disputed by Middle Eastern governments, other jihadist groups,[307] and Sunni Muslim theologians and historians. Qatar-based TV broadcaster and
theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated: "[The] declaration
issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has
dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the
revolt in Syria, adding that the title of caliph can only
be given by the entire Muslim nation, not by a single
group.[308]

13
was led by the leader of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, Dalil Boubakeur, and was joined by thousands
of other Muslims around the country under the slogan
Not in my name.[309][310] French president Franois
Hollande said Gourdels beheading was cowardly and
cruel, and conrmed that airstrikes would continue
against ISIL in Iraq. Hollande also called for three days of
national mourning, with ags own at half-mast throughout the country and said that security would be increased
throughout Paris.[309]

5.2 International criticism

The group has attracted widespread criticism internationally for its extremism, from governments and international bodies such as the United Nations and Amnesty
International. On 24 September 2014, United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated: As Muslim
leaders around the world have said, groups like ISIL or
Daish -- have nothing to do with Islam, and they certainly
do not represent a state. They should more ttingly be
called the Un-Islamic Non-State."[311] The group was
described as a cult in a Hungton Post column by notable cult authority Steven Hassan.[312]

5.3 Criticism of the name Islamic State

and caliphate declaration
The declaration of a new caliphate in June 2014 and the
name Islamic State have been criticized and ridiculed
by Muslim scholars and rival Islamists inside and outside the territory it controls.[26][27][28][29] In a speech in
September 2014, President Obama said that, ISIL is
not Islamic on the basis that no religion condones the
killing of innocents and that no government recognises
the group as a state,[30] and many object to using the
name Islamic State owing to the far-reaching religious
and political claims to authority which that name implies. The United Nations Security Council, the United
States, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Russia, the United
Kingdom[31][32][33][313][314][315][316] and other countries
generally call the group ISIL, while much of the Arab
world uses the Arabic acronym "Dish". Frances Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said This is a terrorist
group and not a state. I do not recommend using the
term Islamic State because it blurs the lines between Islam, Muslims, and Islamists. The Arabs call it 'Daesh'
and I will be calling them the 'Daesh cutthroats.'"[317] Retired general John Allen, the US envoy to coordinate the
coalition, US Lieutenant General James Terry, head of
operations against the group, and Secretary of State John
Kerry have all shifted toward the term DAESH by December 2014.[318]

Two days after the beheading of Herv Gourdel, hun- In late August 2014, a leading Islamic educational instidreds of Muslims gathered in the Grand Mosque of Paris tution, Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah in Egypt, advised Musto show solidarity against the beheading. The protest lims to stop calling the group Islamic State and instead

14

refer to it as Al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria

or QSIS, because of the militant groups un-Islamic
character.[319][320] When addressing the United Nations
Security Council in September 2014, Australian Prime
Minister Tony Abbott summarized the widespread objections to the name Islamic State thus: To use this term
[Islamic State] is to dignify a death cult; a death cult that,
in declaring itself a caliphate, has declared war on the
world.[321] The group is very sensitive about its name.
They will cut your tongue out even if you call them Isis
you have to say 'Islamic State'", said a woman in ISILcontrolled Mosul.[322]
In mid-October 2014, representatives of the Islamic Society of Britain, the Association of British Muslims and
the UKs Association of Muslim Lawyers proposed that
"'Un-Islamic State' (UIS) could be an accurate and fair
alternative name to describe this group and its agenda,
further stating, We need to work together and make
sure that these fanatics don't get the propaganda that they
feed o.[323][324] The Islamic State is mocked on social
media websites such as Twitter and YouTube, with the
use of hashtags, mock recruiting ads, fake news articles
and YouTube videos.[325] One parody, by a Palestinian
TV satire show, portrays ISIL as buoon-like hypocrites, and has had more than half a million views on
YouTube.[325][326]

Analysis

See also: History of Iraq and History of Syria

By 2014, ISIL was increasingly being viewed as a militia
rather than as a terrorist group.[327] As major Iraqi cities
fell to ISIL in June 2014, Jessica Lewis, a former US army
intelligence ocer at the Institute for the Study of War,
described ISIL as not a terrorism problem anymore, but
rather an army on the move in Iraq and Syria, and they
are taking terrain. They have shadow governments in and
around Baghdad, and they have an aspirational goal to
govern. I don't know whether they want to control Baghdad, or if they want to destroy the functions of the Iraqi
state, but either way the outcome will be disastrous for
Iraq. Lewis has called ISIL an advanced military leadership. She said, They have incredible command and
control and they have a sophisticated reporting mechanism from the eld that can relay tactics and directives
up and down the line. They are well-nanced, and they
have big sources of manpower, not just the foreign ghters, but also prisoner escapees.[327]

COUNTRIES AND GROUPS AT WAR WITH ISIL

viser Daniel Benjamin has derided such alarmist talk as

a farce that panics the public.[328]
Some news commentators, such as international newspaper columnist Gwynne Dyer,[329] and samples of American public opinion, such as surveys by NPR,[330] have advocated a strong but measured response to ISILs recent
provocative acts.

6.1 Conspiracy theories in the Arab world

Conspiracy theorists in the Arab world have advanced
rumors that the US is secretly behind the existence and
emboldening of ISIL, as part of an attempt to further
destabilize the Middle East. After such rumors became
widespread, the US embassy in Lebanon issued an ofcial statement denying the allegations, calling them a
complete fabrication.[331] Others are convinced that ISIL
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is an Israeli Mossad agent
and actor called Simon Elliot. The rumors claim that
NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal this
connection. Snowdens lawyer has called the story a
hoax.[332][333][334]

7 Countries and groups at war with

ISIL
ISILs expanding claims to territory have brought it into
armed conict with many governments, militias and other
armed groups. International rejection of ISIL as a terrorist entity and rejection of its claim to even exist have
placed it in conict with countries around the world.

7.1 Opposition within Iraq,

Lebanon, Egypt and Libya

Syria,

7.2 Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

See also: Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve

The Global Coalition to counter the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Daesh), also referred
to as the Counter-ISIL Coalition or Counter-DAESH
Coalition,[355] is a US-led group of nations and nonstate actors that have committed to work together under a common, multifaceted, and long-term strategy to
degrade and defeat ISIL/Daesh. According to a joint
While ocials fear that ISIL may either inspire attacks in statement issued by 59 national governments and the EuCoalition
the United States by sympathizers or by those returning ropean Union, participants in the Counter-ISIL
[356]
are
focused
on
multiple
lines
of
eort:
after joining ISIL, US intelligence agencies nd there is
no immediate threat or specic plots. US Defense Sec1. Supporting military operations, capacity building,
retary Chuck Hagel sees an imminent threat to every
interest we have, but former top counterterrorism adand training;

15

Kurdistan Workers Party of Turkeyground troops

in Iraqi Kurdistan [386]
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iranground troops
in Iraqi Kurdistan[386]
Anonymous

8 Supporters
8.1 Groups with expressions of support
Memberships of these groups have declared support for
ISIL, either fully or in part.
Airstrikes in Syria by 24 September 2014

2. Stopping the ow of foreign terrorist ghters;

3. Cutting o ISIL/Daeshs access to nancing and
funding;
4. Addressing associated humanitarian relief and
crises; and
5. Exposing ISIL/Daeshs true nature (ideological
delegitimization).
Operation Inherent Resolve is the operational name given
by the US to military operations against ISIL and Syrian
al-Qaeda aliates. Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve is coordinating the military portion
of the response.
The following multi-national organizations are part of the
Counter-ISIL Coalition:[356]
European Union declared to be part, most members are participating;[356]
NATO all 27 members are taking part;
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
or GCC all six current members and the two pending
members, Jordan and Morocco, are taking part.

7.3

Other state opponents

Iran[379][380] - ground troops, training and air power

Boko Haram[387]

Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters[388]

Jemaah Islamiyah[389]

Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia)[390][391]

Ansar al-Sharia (Libya)[392][393]

Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of

Jerusalem[394]
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan[395]
Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid[396] - (pledged support to ISIL; the majority of the group split o after
its leader pledged allegiance to ISIL)[397][398]

By mid-November 2014, the Terrorism Research and

Analysis Consortium (TRAC) in Florida had identied
60 jihadist groups in 30 countries that have pledged allegiance or support to ISIL. We at TRAC are constantly
adding to the list (nearly daily)", it said. Many of these
groups were previously aliated with al-Qaeda, indicating a shift in global jihadist leadership toward ISIL.[399]

8.2 Turkey allegations of support

Main article: Turkish involvement in the 2014 military
intervention against ISIL Alleged support of ISIL

Russia[381][382] arms supplier to Iraqi and Syrian

Governments
Turkey has been accused of supporting or colluding with
ISIL, especially by Syrian Kurds.[400][401] Turkey has also
been criticized for allowing individuals from outside the
7.4 Other non-state opponents
region to enter its territory and join ISIL in Syria.[402][403]
However, Turkey sent special forces to Iraq to train Kurdish forces in late October or early November 2014.[365]
Arab League - coordinating member response[383]
[384]
al-Qaeda

al-Nusra Front[385] with localized truces and

cooperation at times

9 Military and resources

16

9.1

Military

Main article: Military of ISIL

Estimates of the size of ISILs military vary widely from
tens of thousands up to 200,000 ghters.[10][404]
9.1.1

Unidentied militants in Saudi Arabia and Yemen designated as provinces of ISIL[22]

Militants of the group Sons of the Call for Tawhid
and Jihad (Jordan) pledging allegiance to ISIL

Militants of the groups Jundallah,[431] Tehreeke-Khilafat, and Jamaat al-Ahrar[24] (Pakistan)

pledging allegiance to ISIL

Militants of the group Abu Sayyaf (Philippines,

Malaysia)[432] pledging allegiance to ISIL[24]

Alleged military aids by US

According to Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator, U.S. government is accused of arming the ISIL.[405][406] The U.S.
government has been funding ISILs allies such as Saudi
Arabia and Qatar and supporting the terrorist group in
Syria, Paul has told NBC Newss Meet the Press.[405] I
think one of the reasons why ISIL has been emboldened is
because we have been arming their allies. We have been
allied with ISIL in Syria, Paul said to CNN.[406]

MILITARY AND RESOURCES

9.1.6 Conventional weapons

ISIL relies mostly on captured weapons. Major sources

are Saddam Hussein's Iraqi stockpiles from the 2003-11
Iraq insurgency[433] and weapons from government and
opposition forces ghting in the Syrian Civil War and
during the post-US withdrawal Iraqi insurgency. The
9.1.2 Foreign ghters in Iraq and Syria
captured weapons, including armor, guns, surface-toair missiles, and even some aircraft, enabled rapid terThere are an estimated 15,000 from nearly 70 countries
ritorial growth and facilitated the capture of additional
in ISILs ranks. According to an UN report.[407]
equipment.[434]
Statistics gathered on a nation by nation basis indicate: 7,000 from Saudi Arabia,[408] 2,400-5,000
from Tunisia,[408][409] 500-2,000 from the United 9.1.7 Non-conventional weapons
Kingdom,[410] 1,000 from Russian Federation,
1,000 from Turkey,[411] 900 from France,[412] 550 The group has a long history of using truck and car
from Germany,[413] 300 from China,[414] 250-400 bombs, suicide bombers, and IEDs, and has used chemfrom Belgium,[415] 250 from Australia,[416] 150 ical weapons in Iraq and Syria.. ISIL captured nuclear
from Sweden,[417] 140 from Norway,[418] 130 from materials from Mosul University in July 2014, but is unCanada,[419] 130 from Netherlands,[420] 100 from the likely to be able to turn them into weapons.[435][436]
United States,[421] 100 from Denmark,[422] 50 from
Finland,[423] 40-50 from Israel,[424] 40 from Spain,[425] 9
from Japan[426]
9.2 Propaganda and social media
9.1.3

Fighters in Libya

The Shura Council of Islamic Youth and other militants in Libya were absorbed and designated the Barka
Province of ISIL.[427][428] There are 800 ghters reported
to be operating within Libya.
9.1.4

Fighters in Egypt

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis was dissolved, with a large Sinaibased part of the group pledging allegiance to ISIL,
which assumed the designation Province of Sinai of
ISIL.[427][429] They are estimated to have 1,0002,000[24]
ghters.[430]
9.1.5

Other areas
Jund al-Khilafah (Algeria) - (dissolved with al- The logo of al-Hayat Media Center, a near-copy of that of Al
Jazeera.
legiance to and designated a province of ISIL)[22]

9.3

Finances

17

ISIL is known for its extensive and eective use of 9.3 Finances
propaganda.[437][438] It uses a version of the Muslim Black
Standard ag and developed an emblem which has clear
In 2014, the RAND Corporation carried out a study
symbolic meaning in the Muslim world.[439]
of 200 documentspersonal letters, expense reports
In November 2006, shortly after the groups rebrandand membership rostersthat had been captured from
ing as the Islamic State of Iraq, the group established
Islamic State of Iraq (al-Qaeda in Iraq).[455] It found that
the al-Furqan Institute for Media Production, which profrom 2005 until 2010, outside donations amounted to
duces CDs, DVDs, posters, pamphlets, and web-related
only 5% of the groups operating budgets, with the rest
[440]
propaganda products.
ISILs main media outlet is
being raised within Iraq.[455] In the time period studied,
[441]
the I'tisaam Media Foundation,
which was formed in
cells were required to send up to 20% of the income genMarch 2013 and distributes through the Global Islamic
erated from kidnapping, extortion rackets and other ac[442]
Media Front (GIMF).
tivities to the next level of the groups leadership. HigherIn 2014, ISIL established the al-Hayat Media Center, ranking commanders would then redistribute the funds to
which targets a Western audience and produces material provincial or local cells that were in diculties or needed
in English, German, Russian and French.[443][444] Also money to conduct attacks.[455] The records show that the
in 2014, ISIL launched the Ajnad Media Foundation, Islamic State of Iraq was dependent on members from
which releases jihadist audio chants.[445] In December Mosul for cash, which the leadership used to provide ad2014, FBI Director James Comey stated that ISILs pro- ditional funds to struggling militants in Diyala, Salahudpaganda is unusually slick. They are broadcasting... in din and Baghdad.[455]
something like 23 languages.[446]
In mid-2014, Iraqi intelligence obtained information
From July 2014, al-Hayat began publishing a digital mag- from an ISIL operative which revealed that the organizaazine called Dabiq, in a number of dierent languages tion had assets worth US$2 billion,[456] making it the richincluding English. According to the magazine, its name est jihadist group in the world.[457] About three quarters
is taken from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria, which of this sum is said to be represented by assets seized after
is mentioned in a hadith about Armageddon.[447]
the group captured Mosul in June 2014; this includes posISILs use of social media has been described by one sibly up to US$429 million looted from Mosuls central
expert as probably more sophisticated than [that of] bank, along with additional millions and a large quantity
bullion stolen from a number of other banks in
most US companies.[437][448] It regularly takes advan- of gold[458][459]
Mosul.
However, doubt was later cast on whether
tage of social media, particularly Twitter, to distribute its
ISIL
was
able
to
retrieve anywhere near that sum from the
message by organizing hashtag campaigns, encouraging
[460]
central
bank,
and even on whether the bank robberies
Tweets on popular hashtags, and utilizing software ap[461]
had
actually
occurred.
plications that enable ISIL propaganda to be distributed
to its supporters accounts.[449] Another comment is that
ISIS puts more emphasis on social media than other jihadi groups... They have a very coordinated social media
presence.[450] In August 2014, Twitter administrators
shut down a number of accounts associated with ISIL.
ISIL recreated and publicized new accounts the next day,
which were also shut down by Twitter administrators.[451]
The group has attempted to branch out into alternative social media sites, such as Quitter, Friendica and
Diaspora; Quitter and Friendica, however, almost immediately worked to remove ISILs presence from their
sites.[452]
In a switch from its former practices, ISILs media arm
imposed a social media blackout on 27 September 2014,
fearing that tweets and posts would give away military positions.[453] ISIL has also attempted to present
a more rational argument in its series of press release/discussions performed by hostage/captive John
Cantlie and posted on YouTube. In its most recent
Cantlie presentation, various current and former US ofcials were quoted, such as US President Barack Obama
and former CIA station chief Michael Scheuer.[454]

Exporting oil from oilelds captured by ISIL brings in

tens of millions of dollars.[137][462] One US Treasury ofcial has estimated that ISIL earns US$1 million a day
from the export of oil. Much of the oil is sold illegally
in Turkey.[463] Dubai-based energy analysts have put the
combined oil revenue from ISILs Iraqi-Syrian production as high as US$3 million per day.[464] ISIL also extracts wealth through taxation and extortion.[463]
Today the majority of the groups funding comes from
the production and sale of energy. It controls around
300 oil wells in Iraq alone. At its peak, it operated 350
oil wells in Iraq, but lost 45 to foreign airstrikes. It
has captured 60% of Syrias total production capacity.
About one fth of its total capacity is in operation. ISIL
earned US$2.5 million a day by selling 50,00060,000
barrels of oil daily.[463][465] Foreign sales rely on a longstanding black market to export via Turkey. Many of the
smugglers and corrupt Turkish border guards who helped
Saddam Hussein to evade sanctions are helping ISIL to
export oil and import cash.[465][466][467] Energy sales include selling electric power from captured power plants
in northern Syria; some of this electricity is reportedly
sold back to the Syrian government.[468]
Sales of artifacts may be the second largest source of

18
funding for ISIL, according to an article in Newsweek.
More than a third of Iraqs important sites are under
ISILs control. It looted the 9th century BC grand palace
of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II at Kalhu. Tablets,
manuscripts and cuneiforms were sold, worth hundreds
of millions of dollars. Stolen artifacts are smuggled into
Turkey and Jordan. Abdulamir al-Hamdani, an archaeologist from SUNY Stony Brook, has said that ISIL is
looting... the very roots of humanity, artifacts from the
oldest civilizations in the world.[465]

10

TIMELINE OF RECENT EVENTS

age potential donors.[437][479]

On 11 November 2014, ISIL announced that they intended to mint their own gold, silver and copper coins,
based on the coinage used by the Umayyad Caliphate
in the 7th Century. Following the announcement, the
group began buying up gold, silver and copper in markets throughout northern and western Iraq, according
to precious metal traders in the area. Members of the
group also reportedly began stripping the insulation o
power electrical cables in order to obtain the copper
The group routinely practises extortion, by demanding wiring.[480][481] The announcement included designs of
money from truck drivers and threatening to blow up the proposed coins, which displayed imagery including
businesses, for example. Robbing banks and gold shops a map of the world, a sword and shield, the Al-Aqsa
has been another source of income.[181]
Mosque and a crescent moon. Economics experts, such
as Professor Steven H. Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, were skeptical of the plans.[481][482] See also Modern
gold dinar.

10 Timeline of recent events

Main article: Timeline of events related to the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant
See also: Islamic State of Iraq Timeline, Syrian Civil
War Course of events and Terrorist incidents in Iraq in
2014
Pictures show damage to the Gbiebe oil renery in Syria following
airstrikes by US and coalition forces.

Index to main: 2013 events; 2014 events:

January, February, March, April, May, June,
July, August, September, October, November,
December; 2015 events: January.

ISIL is widely reported as receiving funding from private

donors in the Gulf states,[469][470] and the governments of
Iraq and Iran have repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia and
Qatar of nancing and supporting the group. Ahead of 10.1 December 2014
the conference of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition held in
Paris in September 2014, Frances foreign minister ac 17 December: Peshmerga forces launched the Sinjar
knowledged that a number of countries at the table had
oensive from Zumar and managed to break the
very probably nanced ISILs advances.[471]
Siege of Mount Sinjar, recapture more than 700
square kilometers of territory,[483] close in on Tal
Although Iran and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
Afar, clear areas north of Mount Sinjar,[484] and
have accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding the
pushed into the city of Sinjar.[485] The oensive is
group,[472][473][474][475] there is reportedly no evidence
ongoing as of 17 December
that this is the case.[117][475][476][477] However, according to The Atlantic, ISIL may have been a major part of
Saudi Arabian Bandar bin Sultans covert-ops strategy in
Syria.[478]
Unregistered charity organizations are used as fronts to
pass funds to ISIL. As they use aliases on Facebook's
WhatsApp and Kik, the individuals and organizations are
untraceable. Donations transferred to fund ISILs operations are disguised as humanitarian charity. Saudi
Arabia has imposed a blanket ban on unauthorized donations destined for Syria as the only means of stopping
such funding.[465]
Since 2012, ISIL has produced annual reports giving numerical information on its operations, somewhat in the
style of corporate reports, seemingly in a bid to encour-

18 December: Three rebel groups near the Golan

Heights region, which had previously been aided by
the United States, switched sides and pledged loyalty
to ISIL.[486]
19 December: US General James Terry announced
that the number of US airstrikes to date on ISIL had
increased to 1,361.[487]
21 December: The Sinjar oensive ends in a decisive Kurdish victory, and the city of Sinjar is momentarily liberated, as ISIL forces retreated to Tell
Afar and Mosul.[488]
22 December: Kurdish forces claim that ISIL control of Koban was reduced to 30%.[489]

19
24 December: SOHR reported that ISIL shot down
an Anti-ISIL Coalition warplane near Ar-Raqqah,
and ISIL supporters claimed on social media, with
photos, to have captured the Jordanian pilot.[490]
The US said the plane crashed, but was not shot
down. Also, an ISIL suicide bombing in Madin
killed 15 pro-government Sunni ghters and 7 Iraqi
soldiers, and wounded 55.[491]
25 December: Iraqi police reported that the newly
appointed ISIL governor of Mosul was killed in a
Counter-ISIL Coalition airstrike. Hassan Saeed AlJabouri, also known as Abu Taluut, had been in ofce less then 25 days, replacing another man killed
earlier in December 2014. It was also revealed that
US planned to retake Mosul in January 2015.[492]

10.2

January 2015

4 January: ISIL troops again attacked Saudi Arabia

near the border city of Arar, Saudi Arabia, killing
two border guards and injuring a third, before the
assault was repelled.[493]
5 January: In Koban, Kurdish YPG units captured
the governmental and security district and the alRea, al-Senaa, al-Tharura, and al-Banat schools.
YPG also advanced in the Mishtanour neighborhood
south of the town. According to SOHR, the YPG
now controls at least 80% of Koban. At least 14
ISIL militants were killed in the clashes.[494]

[6] Rubin, Alissa, J (26 June 2014). 4 questions ISIS rebels

use to tell Sunni from Shia. The Times of India. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
[7] Ishaan Tharoor (16 July 2014). This Canadian jihadist
died in Syria, but his video may recruit more foreign ghters. The Washington Post. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
The Islamic State has de facto control of a whole swathe
of territory stretching from eastern Syria to the environs
of Baghdad and last month declared a caliphate...
[8] Paul Cruickshank; Nic Robertson; Tim Lister; Jomana
Karadsheh (18 November 2014). ISIS comes to Libya.
CNN. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
[9] Zack Beauchamp (4 August 2014). ISIS just took a
town in Lebanon. Wait, Lebanon?". Vox. Retrieved 30
November 2014.
[10] Cockburn, Patrick (16 November 2014). War with Isis:
Islamic militants have army of 200,000, claims senior
Kurdish leader. The Independent.
[11] Rubin, Alissa J. (5 July 2014). Militant Leader in Rare
Appearance in Iraq. The New York Times. Retrieved 6
July 2014.
[12] Matt Bradley and Ghassan Adnan in Baghdad, and Felicia
Schwartz in Washington (10 November 2014). Coalition
Airstrikes Targeted Islamic State Leaders Near Mosul.
WSJ.
[13] Inside the leadership of Islamic State: how the new
'caliphate' is run. Telegraph. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 1
October 2014.
[14] Heres What We Know About the 'Caliph' of the New
Islamic State. Business Insider. Agence France-Presse.
29 June 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.

10 January: Suicide bombing in Tripoli cafe kills

9 and wounds 30. It is initially attributed to ISIS
members[495] though other reports claim only the [15] ISIS Spokesman Declares Caliphate, Rebrands Group as
Al-Nusra Front is responsible.[496]
Islamic State. SITE Institute. 29 June 2014. Retrieved
12 January: ISIS Battles for the town of Gwer which
was re-taken by Iraqi forces in August. ISIS kills 30
Kurds despite US-led coaliton airstirkes.[497] .
ISIS of Libya kidnaps 21 Christians in Tripoli.[498]

11

References

[1] Colonial Caliphate: The Ambitions of the 'Islamic

State'". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
[2] How ISIS got its anthem. The Guardian. 9 November
2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
[3] LiveLeak.com - Islamic state caliphate anthem!Nasheed
of Islamic state .. la ilha illa Allh.
[4] ISIS on oense in Iraq. Al-Monitor. 10 June 2014.
Retrieved 11 June 2014.
[5] Kelley, Michael B. (20 August 2014). One Big Question
Surrounds The Murder Of US Journalist James Foley By
ISIS. Business Insider. Retrieved 20 August 2014. ... the
de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa, Syria ...

29 June 2014.
[16] The War between ISIS and al-Qaeda for Supremacy of
the Global Jihadist Movement. Washington Institute for
Near East Policy. June 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
[17] Pool, Jerey (16 December 2004). Zarqawis Pledge of
Allegiance to Al-Qaeda: From Mu'Asker Al-Battar, Issue
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Retrieved 30 July 2014.
[18] Al-Qaeda disavows ISIS militants in Syria. BBC News.
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[440] US targets al Qaedas al Furqan media wing in Iraq. The [456] Chulov, Martin (15 June 2014). How an arrest in Iraq reLong War Journal. 28 October 2007. Retrieved 24 June
vealed Isiss $2bn jihadist network. The Guardian. Re2014.
trieved 17 June 2014.
[441] Bilger 2014, p. 1.
[442]

[443]

[444]

[445]

[446]

[457] Moore, Jack (11 June 2014). Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot
$429m from Citys Central Bank to Make Isis Worlds
Zelin, Aaron Y. (8 March 2013). New statement from
Richest Terror Force. International Business Times UK.
the Global Islamic Media Front: Announcement on the
Retrieved 19 June 2014.
Publishing of al-I'tim Media Foundation A Subsidiary
of the Islamic State of Iraq It Will Be Released Via [458] McCoy, Terrence (12 June 2014). ISIS just stole $425
GIMF. JIHADOLOGY. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
million, Iraqi governor says, and became the 'worlds richest terrorist group'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18
Gertz, Bill (13 June 2014). New Al Qaeda Group ProJune 2014.
duces Recruitment Material for Americans, Westerners.
The Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved 24 June 2014. [459] Carey, Glen; Haboush, Mahmoud; Viscusi, Gregory (26
June 2014). Financing Jihad: Why ISIS Is a Lot Richer
ISIS Declares Islamic Caliphate, Appoints Abu Bakr AlThan Al-Qaeda. Bloomberg News. Retrieved 19 July
Baghdadi As 'Caliph', Declares All Muslims Must Pledge
2014.
Allegiance To Him. MEMRI. 30 June 2014. Retrieved
7 July 2014.
[460] U.S. Ocial Doubts ISIS Mosul Bank Heist Windfall.
NBC News. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
ISIL Launches 'Ajnad Media Foundation' to Specialize
in Jihadi Chants. SITE Institute. 15 January 2014. Re- [461] Daragahi, Borzou (17 July 2014). Biggest bank robtrieved 25 June 2014.(subscription required)
bery that 'never happened' $400m Isis heist. Financial
Times. Retrieved 21 July 2014.(subscription required)
Sullivan, Kevin (8 December 2014). Three American
Accessible via Google.
teens, recruited online, are caught trying to join the Islamic State. The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 Decem- [462] Mariam Karouny (4 September 2014). In northeast
ber 2014.
Syria, Islamic State builds a government. Reuters.

[447] Dabiq: What Islamic States New Magazine Tells Us [463] Scott Bronstein; Drew Grin (7 October 2014). Selfabout Their Strategic Direction, Recruitment Patterns and
funded and deep-rooted: How ISIS makes its millions.
Guerrilla Doctrine. The Jamestown Foundation. 1 AuCNN.
gust 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
[464] Karen Leigh (2 August 2014). ISIS Makes Up To $3
[448] Berger, J. M. (16 June 2014). How ISIS Games Twitter.
Million a Day Selling Oil, Say Analysts. ABC news. ReThe Atlantic. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
trieved 8 October 2014.
[449] ISIS Propaganda Campaign Threatens U.S.. Anti- [465] Janine di Giovanni; Leah McGrath Goodman; Damien
Defamation League. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 27 June
Sharkov (6 November 2014). How Does ISIS Fund Its
2014.
Reign of Terror?". Newsweek.
[450] Sheera, Frenkel (16 June 2014). Meet The 'ISIS Fan- [466] Chulov, Martin (15 June 2014). Iraq arrest that exposed
boys Spreading The Message Of Iraqs Most Feared Terwealth and power of Isis jihadists. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
ror Group. BuzzFeed.

32

12

SEE ALSO

[467] Solomon, Erika (28 April 2014). Syrias jihadist groups [486] Amos Harel (December 18, 2014). Spreading out in
ght for control of eastern oilelds. Financial Times. ReSyria, ISIS approaches Israels Golan border. Haaretz.
trieved 17 June 2014.
[487] Chloe Sommers (18 December 2014). The Pentagon has
[468] Fisher, Max (12 June 2014). How ISIS is exploiting the
a new name for ISIS. CNN.
economics of Syrias civil war. Vox. Retrieved 17 June
[488] Mitch Prothero. Islamic State counterattacks renery as
2014.
ght for Iraq swings back and forth. McClatchy DC. Re[469] Rogin, Josh (14 June 2014). Americas Allies Are Fundtrieved 22 December 2014.
ing ISIS. The Daily Beast. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
[489] Mohammed A Salih; Hermione Gee (22 December
[470] Iraq crisis: How Saudi Arabia helped Isis take over the
2014). Inside Kobane: United against ISIL - Kobanes
north of the country. The Independent. 13 July 2014.
remaining civilians explain why they chose to stay behind
Retrieved 9 August 2014.
despite the risks.. Al Jazeera.
[471] Doug Stanglin (15 September 2014). As summit strate- [490] IS captures Jordanian pilot after warplane crashes in
gizes on ISIL, French jets y over Iraq. USA TODAY.
Syria. BBC News.
[472] Parker, Ned; Ireland, Louise (9 March 2014). Iraqi PM [491] Isis cattura un pilota giordano e mostra la foto: AbbiMaliki says Saudi, Qatar openly funding violence in Anamo abbattuto un aereo della coalizione (Isis catches a
bar. Reuters.
Jordanian driver and shows the photo: We shot down a
plane of the coalition)" (in Italian). La Stampa. 24 De[473] Maliki: Saudi and Qatar at war against Iraq. Al Jazeera.
cember 2014.
9 March 2014.
[492] Per Liljas (25 December 2014). Iraqi Police: Coalition
[474] Maliki accuses Saudi Arabia of backing rebels. Al AraAirstrikes Kill ISIS Governor of Mosul. Time. Retrieved
biya. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
26 December 2014.
[475] Bozorgmehr, Najmeh; Kerr, Simeon (25 June 2014).
[493] Al Jazeera and agencies (5 January 2015). Saudi border
Iran-Saudi proxy war heats up as Isis entrenches in Iraq.
guards killed in attack - Interior Ministry says two guards
Financial Times. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
killed and one injured on kingdoms border with Iraq in
shooting and suicide assault.. Al Jazeera.
[476] Hauslohner, Abigail (13 June 2014). Jihadist expansion
in Iraq puts Persian Gulf states in a tight spot. The Wash[494] Kurds push back ISIS in Syrias Kobani: activists. Daily
ington Post. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
Star Lebanon. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
[477] Black, Ian (19 June 2014). Saudi Arabia rejects Iraqi
[495] Reports suggest ISIS behind north Lebanon suicide ataccusations of Isis support. The Guardian. Retrieved 19
tack: interior minister. Daily Star Lebanon. January 11,
June 2014.
2015.
[478] Clemons, Steve (23 June 2014). "'Thank God for the
[496] Jabal Mohsen bombing: a sign of things to come. Daily
Saudis: ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback. The
Star Lebanon. January 12, 2015.
Atlantic. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
[479] Matthews, Dylan (24 July 2014). The surreal infograph- [497] Ocial: ISIS kills 30 Kurds in northern Iraq battle.
Daily Star Lebanon. January 12, 2015.
ics ISIS is producing, translated. Vox. Retrieved 25 July
2014.
[498] ISIS claim abduction of 21 Christians in Libya: activists. Agence France Presse (Daily Star Lebanon). Jan[480] Isis to mint own Islamic dinar coins in gold, silver and
uary 12, 2015.
copper, The Guardian, 21 November 2014
[481] Islamic State reportedly buying silver, gold as it prepares to issue currency. McClatchyDC. McClatchy. 20
November 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.

12 See also

[482] Islamic State announces its own currency. The Telegraph. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 21 November
2014.

2014 American rescue mission in Syria

[483] Victoria Richards. Isis latest: Kurdish forces 'break' the

siege of Mount Sinjar - Kurdish forces claim it is their
'biggest victory yet' against the extremist militant group.
The Independent. Retrieved 19 December 2014.

Crimes against humanity

[484] Kurds press Sinjar operation in north Iraq. Gulf News.

December 20, 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
[485] Dalton Bennett. Iraqi Kurdish ghters push into ISISheld Sinjar. CTV News. Associated Press. Retrieved 21
December 2014.

2014 Australian terror raids

Ethnic cleansing
Human rights under the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant
Islamic military jurisprudence
Killing of captives by the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant

33
List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
List of wars and battles involving the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant
Management of Savagery
2014 Fall of Mosul
Northern Iraq oensive (August 2014)
Portrayal of ISIS in American Media
ShiaSunni relations

Phillips, Andrew (2009). How al Qaeda lost Iraq.

Australian Journal of International Aairs 63 (1):
6484. doi:10.1080/10357710802649840.
Simon, Steven (2008). The Price of the Surge:
How U.S. Strategy Is Hastening Iraqs Demise.
Foreign Aairs 87 (3): 5772, 7476. JSTOR
20032651.

16 External links

Siege of Koban

Iraq updates Institute for the Study of War

Sinjar massacre

The New War in Iraq ISIL Overview Midwest

Diplomacy (September 2013)

Spillover of the Syrian Civil War

United Kingdom and ISIL

13

Notes

[1] See Anbar Awakening

[2] According to classical Islamic sources, ilf alMuayyabn was an oath of allegiance taken in pre-Islamic
times by several clans of the Quraysh tribe, in which they
undertook to protect the oppressed and the wronged. The
name oath of the scented ones apparently derives from
the fact that the participants sealed the oath by dipping
their hands in perfume and then rubbing them over the
Kabah. This practice was later adopted by the Islamic
prophet Muhammad and incorporated into Islam.[70]
[3] During this ceremony, the participants declared: We
swear by Allah ... that we will strive to free the prisoners of their shackles, to end the oppression to which the
Sunnis are being subjected by the malicious Shi'ites and
by the occupying Crusaders, to assist the oppressed and
restore their rights even at the price of our own lives ... to
make Allahs word supreme in the world, and to restore
the glory of Islam...[70]

14

References

15

Bibliography

Abass, Ademola (2014). Complete International

Law: Text, Cases and Materials (2nd ed.). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Fishman, Brian (2008). Using the Mistakes of al
Qaedas Franchises to Undermine Its Strategies.
Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science 618: 4654. JSTOR 40375774.
Kahl, Colin H. (2008). When to Leave Iraq: Walk
Before Running. Foreign Aairs 87 (4): 151154.
JSTOR 20032727.

This Is the Promise of Allah Declaration of the

Islamic State (29 June 2014)
Islamic State Full-length documentary by VICE
News (August 2014)
ISIS: Portrait of a Jihadi Terrorist Organization
Report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
The future of the radical groups
From Chechnya To Syria News & Analysis of
Russian-speaking Foreign Fighters In Syria
Counter Narrative - Islamic State as a Religious
Army or an Army of religion
Isis: the inside story. One of the Islamic States senior commanders reveals details of the terror groups
origins inside an Iraqi prison. The Guardian

34

17

17
17.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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17.2

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File:Flag_of_Australia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Flag_of_Australia.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Austria.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Flag_of_Austria.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work, http://www.bmlv.gv.at/abzeichen/dekorationen.shtml Original artist: User:SKopp
File:Flag_of_Bahrain.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Flag_of_Bahrain.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://www.moci.gov.bh/en/KingdomofBahrain/BahrainFlag/ Original artist: Source: Drawn by User:SKopp, rewritten by
User:Zscout370
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License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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Herzegovina.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Kseferovic
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Contributors: The ag of Bulgaria. The colors are specied at http://www.government.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0034&n=
000005&g= as: Original artist: SKopp
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Contributors: http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=4317 Original artist: Nightstallion, Elephantus, Neoneo13, Denelson83, Rainman,
R-41, Minestrone, Lupo, Zscout370,
<a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MaGa' title='User:MaGa'>Ma</a><a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png'
class='image'><img
alt='Croatian
squares
Ljubicic.png'
src='//upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png/15px-Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png'
width='15'
height='15'
srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png/23px-Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png
1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png/30px-Croatian_squares_Ljubicic.png
2x' data-le-width='202' data-le-height='202' /></a><a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:MaGa' title='User
talk:MaGa'>Ga</a> (based on Decision of the Parliament)

36

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File:Flag_of_Cyprus.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Flag_of_Cyprus.svg License: Public domain

Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Vzb83
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File:Flag_of_Egypt.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Flag_of_Egypt.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
From the Open Clip Art website. Original artist: Open Clip Art
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Contributors: http://www.riigikantselei.ee/?id=73847 Original artist: Originally drawn by User:SKopp. Blue colour changed by User:PeepP
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User:Jeltz, User:Dbenbenn, User:Zscout370
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Contributors: http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1978/19780380 Original artist: Drawn by User:SKopp
File:Flag_of_France.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
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Contributors: Own work based on File:Brdzanebuleba 31.pdf Original artist: User:SKopp
File:Flag_of_Germany.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg License: ? Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Greece.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Flag_of_Greece.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: own code Original artist: (of code) cs:User:-xfi- (talk)
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Contributors:
Flags of the World Hungary Original artist: SKopp
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Contributors: Islandic National Flag Original artist: var Arnfjr Bjarmason, Zscout370 and others
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? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Indonesia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Flag_of_Indonesia.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Law: s:id:Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 24 Tahun 2009 (http://badanbahasa.kemdiknas.go.id/
lamanbahasa/sites/default/files/UU_2009_24.pdf) Original artist: Drawn by User:SKopp, rewritten by User:Gabbe
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Original artist: Various
File:Flag_of_Iraq.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Flag_of_Iraq.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
This image is based on the CIA Factbook, and the website of Oce of the President of Iraq, vectorized by User:Militaryace Original artist:
Unknown, published by Iraqi governemt, vectorized by User:Militaryace based on the work of User:Hoshie
File:Flag_of_Iraq_Turkmen_Front.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Flag_of_Iraq_Turkmen_Front.
svg License: Public domain Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape Original artist: Oren neu dag
File:Flag_of_Ireland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Flag_of_Ireland.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Drawn by User:SKopp Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Italy.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Flag_of_Italy.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
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artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Jihad.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Flag_of_Jihad.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Unknown
File:Flag_of_Jordan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Flag_of_Jordan.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Kosovo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Flag_of_Kosovo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: Originally from Image:Flag of Kosovo.png. Original artist: Cradel (current version), earlier version by Ningyou
File:Flag_of_Kurdistan.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Flag_of_Kurdistan.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: <a href='http://validator.w3.org/' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='W3C' src='//upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Invalid_SVG_1.1_%28pink%29.svg/88px-Invalid_SVG_1.1_%28pink%29.svg.png'
width='88' height='30' style='vertical-align: top' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Invalid_SVG_1.1_
%28pink%29.svg/132px-Invalid_SVG_1.1_%28pink%29.svg.png 1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/
Invalid_SVG_1.1_%28pink%29.svg/176px-Invalid_SVG_1.1_%28pink%29.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='91' data-le-height='31'
/></a>iThe source code of that SVG was invalid due to 12 errors.
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Kurdistan_Workers_Party_%28PKK%29.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Herrn

17.2

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File:Flag_of_Kuwait.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Flag_of_Kuwait.svg License: Public domain

Contributors: Own work Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Latvia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Flag_of_Latvia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Drawn by SKopp Original artist: Latvija
File:Flag_of_Lebanon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Flag_of_Lebanon.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: Traced based on the CIA World Factbook with some modication done to the colours based on information
at Vexilla mundi.
File:Flag_of_Libya.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Flag_of_Libya.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: File:Flag of Libya (1951).svg Original artist: The source code of this SVG is <a data-x-rel='nofollow' class='external text'
href='http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%3AFilepath%2FFlag_of_
Libya.svg,<span>,&,</span>,ss=1'>valid</a>.
File:Flag_of_Lithuania.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Flag_of_Lithuania.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: SuKopp
File:Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work http://www.legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1972/0051/a051.pdf#page=2, colors from http://www.
legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1993/0731609/0731609.pdf Original artist: Drawn by User:SKopp
File:Flag_of_Macedonia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Flag_of_Macedonia.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:SKopp, rewritten by User:Gabbe
File:Flag_of_Moldova.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Flag_of_Moldova.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: vector coat of arms image traced by User:Nameneko from Image:Moldova gerb large.png. Construction sheet can be found
at http://flagspot.net/flags/md.html#const Original artist: Nameneko and others
File:Flag_of_Montenegro.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Flag_of_Montenegro.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: B1mbo, Froztbyte
File:Flag_of_Morocco.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Flag_of_Morocco.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: adala.justice.gov.ma (Ar) Original artist: Denelson83, Zscout370
File:Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: http://www.mch.govt.nz/files/NZ%20Flag%20-%20proportions.JPG Original artist: Zscout370, Hugh Jass
and many others
File:Flag_of_Norway.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Flag_of_Norway.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Dbenbenn
File:Flag_of_Oman.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Flag_of_Oman.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Poland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Flag_of_Poland.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Portugal.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Flag_of_Portugal.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://jorgesampaio.arquivo.presidencia.pt/pt/republica/simbolos/bandeiras/index.html#imgs Original artist: Columbano
Bordalo Pinheiro (1910; generic design); Vtor Lus Rodrigues; Antnio Martins-Tuvlkin (2004; this specic vector set: see sources)
File:Flag_of_Promised_Day_Brigades.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Flag_of_Promised_Day_
Brigades.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Flag of the Promised Day Brigades; a Shiite militia aligned with the Sadrist movement in Iraq. Visible here, here, and here. Original artist: Promised Day Brigades
File:Flag_of_Qatar.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Flag_of_Qatar.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Drawn by User:SKopp Original artist: (of code) cs:User:-xfi File:Flag_of_Romania.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Flag_of_Romania.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: AdiJapan
File:Flag_of_Russia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Flag_of_Russia.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia.svg License:
CC0 Contributors: the actual ag Original artist: Unknown
File:Flag_of_Serbia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Flag_of_Serbia.svg License: Public domain Contributors: From http://www.parlament.gov.rs/content/cir/o_skupstini/simboli/simboli.asp. Original artist: sodipodi.com
File:Flag_of_Singapore.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Flag_of_Singapore.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The drawing was based from http://app.www.sg/who/42/National-Flag.aspx. Colors from the book: (2001). The
National Symbols Kit. Singapore: Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. pp. 5. ISBN 8880968010 Pantone 032 shade from
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/colorfinder.aspx?c_id=13050 Original artist: Various
File:Flag_of_Slovakia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Flag_of_Slovakia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work; here, colors Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Slovenia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Flag_of_Slovenia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work construction sheet from http://flagspot.net/flags/si%27.html#coa Original artist: User:Achim1999
File:Flag_of_Somalia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Flag_of_Somalia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: see below Original artist: see upload history
File:Flag_of_South_Korea.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Flag_of_South_Korea.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Ordinance Act of the Law concerning the National Flag of the Republic of Korea, Construction and color guidelines
(Russian/English) This site is not exist now.(2012.06.05) Original artist: Various

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File:Flag_of_Spain.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Flag_of_Spain.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original

artist: ?
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domain Contributors: PDF Colors Construction sheet Original artist: User:Marc Mongenet
Credits:
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Flag_of_Syria_
%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:AnonMoos
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combined%29.svg License:
Public domain Contributors:
Flag_of_Syria.svg <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Flag_of_Syria.svg' class='image'><img alt='Flag of Syria.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Flag_
of_Syria.svg/50px-Flag_of_Syria.svg.png' width='50' height='33' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/
Flag_of_Syria.svg/75px-Flag_of_Syria.svg.png 1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Flag_of_Syria.svg/
100px-Flag_of_Syria.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='900' data-le-height='600' /></a>
Original artist: Flag_of_Syria.svg: Zscout370
File:Flag_of_Syria_2011,_observed.svg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Flag_of_Syria_2011%
2C_observed.svg License: CC0 Contributors: This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from
this:
<a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Syria_(1932-1958;_1961-1963).svg' class='image' title='Source
SVG image'><img alt='Source SVG image' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flag_of_Syria_
%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg/40px-Flag_of_Syria_%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg.png' width='40' height='20'
srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flag_of_Syria_%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg/60px-Flag_
of_Syria_%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg.png
1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flag_of_
Syria_%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg/80px-Flag_of_Syria_%281932-1958%3B_1961-1963%29.svg.png
2x'
data-lewidth='900' data-le-height='450' /></a> Syria-ag_1932-58_1961-63.svg. Original artist: Modication by AnonMoos of PD image
File:Syria-flag_1932-58_1961-63.svg (previous non-vector versions were by Coup de crayon 2011)
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Contributors: Turkish Flag Law (Trk Bayra Kanunu), Law nr. 2893 of 22 September 1983. Text (in Turkish) at the website of the
Turkish Historical Society (Trk Tarih Kurumu) Original artist: David Benbennick (original author)
File:Flag_of_Ukraine.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Flag_of_Ukraine.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: 4512:2006 - .
SVG: 2010
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File:Flag_of_the_Al-Nusra_Front.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Flag_of_the_Al-Nusra_Front.
svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Originally uploaded by . Turned into svg by
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File:Flag_of_the_Arab_League.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Flag_of_the_Arab_League.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Flad
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License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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svg License: Public domain Contributors:
-x-'s le
-x-'s code
Zirlands codes of colors
Original artist:
(of code): SVG version by cs:-x-.
File:Flag_of_the_Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant2.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Flag_
of_the_Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant2.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Flag of Islamic State of Iraq.svg
Original artist: The Islamic State
File:Flag_of_the_Libyan_Air_Force.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Flag_of_the_Libyan_Air_
Force.svg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: MrPenguin20
File:Flag_of_the_National_Defense_Force.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Flag_of_the_National_
Defense_Force.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work. SVG version of ag visible here, here, here and here. Original artist:
MrPenguin20
File:Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Zscout370
File:Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_
China.svg License: Public domain Contributors: [1] Original artist: User:SKopp

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File:Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Flag_of_the_United_

Arab_Emirates.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_the_United_Nations.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_the_United_Nations.svg
License: Public domain Contributors: Flag of the United Nations from the Open Clip Art website. Modications by Denelson83, Zscout370
and Madden. Ocial construction sheet here.
United Nations (1962) The United Nations ag code and regulations, as amended November 11, 1952, New York OCLC: 7548838. Original
artist: Wilfried Huss / Anonymous
File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg License: ?
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_placeholder.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Flag_placeholder.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Andrwsc
File:Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Loading_up.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Flickr_-_The_U.S.
_Army_-_Loading_up.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Loading up Original artist: The U.S. Army
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:GCC_Flag.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/GCC_Flag.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
Image:Int-GCC-flag.gif and Image:GCC Logo.svg Original artist: Rico Shen
File:HPG_Flag.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/HPG_Flag.svg License: CC0 Contributors: File:
People{}s Protection Units Flag.svg Original artist: Gazilion
File:IRGC-Seal.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/IRGC-Seal.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors:
Own work Original artist: MrInfo2012
File:InfoboxHez.PNG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/InfoboxHez.PNG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Khaerr
File:Iraqi_Air_Force_Flag.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Iraqi_Air_Force_Flag.svg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work. Based on ag visible here. Original artist: MrPenguin20
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Original artist: Bestoun94

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