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94-747: In 2015, the Islamic State captured Palmyra and subsequently destroyed some of its famous historical sites. In late 2015, the Institute for Digital Archaeology began contributing to the New Palmyra Project, sending archaeologists with cheap 3D cameras to capture any further structures that ISIL might decide to destroy. In 2018 the project organized the mass donation of over 3,000 high-quality images from tourists, heritage professionals, and researchers. They published these images as an open source archive on Flickr.com . These images portray

188-520: A Caliphate , IS borrowed the idea of restoration of a global Caliphate. Although the religious character of IS is mostly Wahhabi, it departs from the Wahhabi tradition in four critical aspects: dynastic alliance, call to establish a global caliphate, sheer violence, and apocalyptism. IS did not follow the pattern of the first three Saudi states in allying the religious mission of the Najdi ulema with

282-414: A caliphate , an Islamic state led by a group of religious authorities under a supreme leader – the caliph – who is believed to be the successor to Muhammad . In June 2014, ISIL published a document in which it claimed to have traced the lineage of its leader al-Baghdadi back to Muhammad, and upon proclaiming a new caliphate on 29 June, the group appointed al-Baghdadi as its caliph. As caliph, he demanded

376-415: A suicide vest , deliberately killing both himself and two children who had been living in the compound prior to the assault. U.S. President Donald Trump stated in a televised announcement that Baghdadi had, in fact, died during the operation and that American forces used support from helicopters, jets and drones through airspace controlled by Russia and Turkey. He said that "Russia treated us great... Iraq

470-563: A U.S.-led raid in Syria. In 2014, The Wall Street Journal estimated that eight million people lived in the Islamic State. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has stated that IS "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey". Civilians, as well as the Islamic State itself, have released footage of some of

564-614: A book on the history, destruction, and reconstruction of Palmyra, was published in 2017. Islamic State Primary target of The Islamic State ( IS ), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ), the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ( ISIS ) and by its Arabic acronym Daesh , is a transnational Salafi jihadist group. IS gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants conquered large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, taking advantage of

658-462: A cabinet of senior leaders, while its operations in Iraq and Syria are controlled by local 'emirs,' who head semi-autonomous groups which the Islamic State refers to as its provinces. Beneath the leaders are councils on finance, leadership, military matters, legal matters (including decisions on executions) foreign fighters' assistance, security, intelligence and media. In addition, a shura council has

752-605: A consolidated setting. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are more impressionable mediums, especially on a younger demographic. For this reason, ISIS strategically places their polished messages on these platforms to attract potential new members from an early age. A study about the repercussions of social media demonstrated that there were approximately 1,264 cases that could be categorized as “violent-inciting” examples; in these cases, ISIS social media experts have deliberately posted threatening propaganda to provoke offline aggression. Many “call for action” verbs that have

846-531: A disadvantage to foreign members, with some native Syrian fighters resenting "favouritism" allegedly shown towards foreigners over pay and accommodation. In August 2016, media reports based on briefings by Western intelligence agencies suggested that IS had a multilevel secret service known in Arabic as Emni , established in 2014, that has become a combination of an internal police force and an external operations directorate complete with regional branches. The unit

940-447: A hybrid of Salafism , Salafi jihadism , Islamic fundamentalism , Wahhabism , and Qutbism , as well as other doctrines. According to Robert Manne, there is a "general consensus" that the ideology of the Islamic State is "primarily based upon the writings of the radical Egyptian theoretician Sayyid Qutb ". The Muslim Brotherhood began the trend of political Islamism in the 20th century, seeking gradual establishment of

1034-482: A journalist writing on Salafi jihadism , has written that IS's goal is to "terrorize, mobilize [and] polarize". Its efforts to terrorise are intended to intimidate civilian populations and force governments of the target enemy "to make rash decisions that they otherwise would not choose". It aims to mobilise its supporters by motivating them with, for example, spectacular deadly attacks deep in Western territory (such as

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1128-527: A lengthy battle that saw massive destruction to the city, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the full capture of Raqqa from IS. From 2013 to 2019, IS was headed and run by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , the Islamic State's self-styled Caliph . Before their deaths, he had two deputy leaders, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani for Iraq and Abu Ali al-Anbari (also known as Abu Ala al-Afri) for Syria, both ethnic Turkmen . Advising al-Baghdadi were

1222-661: A method developed by 19th century anarchists in Europe. The November 2015 ISIS attacks were perpetrated without prior warning, largely because the operatives met face-to-face and used other non-digital means of communication. Additionally, it is common for ISIS to claim responsibility of many terror attacks around the world such as the Paris Attacks , the Pulse night club shooting , and the Las Vegas attack. ISIS’s activities on

1316-485: A new Caliphate , a comprehensive Islamic society ruled by sharia law. Qutb's doctrines of jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance), hakimiyya (divine sovereignty), and takfir of entire societies formed a radicalized vision of the Muslim Brotherhood's political Islam project. Qutbism became the precursor to all jihadist thought, from Abdullah Azzam to Zawahiri and to Daesh. Alongside Sayyid Qutb,

1410-438: A positive connotation have also been utilized to establish feelings of justification towards any pertinent violence. A 2022 study found that ISIS online "propaganda conveying the material, spiritual, and social benefits of joining ISIS increased online support for the group, while content displaying brutal violence decreased endorsement of ISIS across a wide range of videos." Both national governments and corporations have taken

1504-592: A potential leader or opponent". In Raqqa , after rebel forces drove out the Bashar al-Assad regime and ISIL infiltrated the town, "first dozens and then hundreds of people disappeared". Security and intelligence expert Martin Reardon has described IS's purpose as being to psychologically "break" those under its control, "so as to ensure their absolute allegiance through fear and intimidation", while generating "outright hate and vengeance" among its enemies. Jason Burke ,

1598-579: A significant following in northern and Sahelian Africa, where IS still controls a significant territory. Originating in the Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004, the organisation (primarily under the Islamic State of Iraq name) affiliated itself with al-Qaeda in Iraq and fought alongside them during the 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency . The group later changed their name to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant for about

1692-637: A single group. I don’t see any reason why they should shut down the service. Should they shut down Twitter, too?" In 2014, Justpaste.it removed graphic content from the website—this prompted ISIS to launch their own content-sharing pages. These sites included Manbar.me in 2014, Nasher.me in January 2015, and Alors.ninja , in July 2015. ISIS social media offices relied most heavily on Manbar.me to distribute propaganda photos of battles and city raids. In 2016, ISIS introduced PasteMaker and Sharetext, which mirrored

1786-423: A stand against ISIS in both the physical and virtual spheres. The U.S. Department of State announced an international coalition in 2014, in which they list five lines of effort to expose ISIS. They include: Companies are also taking action to hinder ISIS social media recruitment attempts. Google ’s ThinkTank , Jigsaw , launched a collaboration with YouTube in July, 2017 to redirect any potential recruits using

1880-616: A strategy of attack outside its territory in which fighters would "Diversify and widen the vexation strikes against the Crusader-Zionist enemy in every place in the Islamic world, and even outside of it if possible, so as to disperse the efforts of the alliance of the enemy and thus drain it to the greatest extent possible." The group has been accused of attempting to "bolster morale" and distract attention from its loss of territory to enemies by staging terror attacks abroad (such as

1974-403: A terrorism analyst and the co-founder of SITE Intelligence , noted that the alleged statement used a different font when compared to other statements and it was never distributed on Amaq or IS channels. On 29 October 2019, Trump stated on social media that al-Baghdadi's "number one replacement" had been killed by American forces, without giving a name. A U.S. official later confirmed that Trump

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2068-505: A terrorist organisation by the United Nations and others, IS—during its rule in northern Iraq—launched genocides against Yazidis and Iraqi Turkmen ; engaged in persecution of Christians , Shia Muslims , and Mandaeans ; publicised videos of beheadings of soldiers, journalists, and aid workers; and destroyed several cultural sites . The group has also perpetrated terrorist massacres in territories outside of its control, such as

2162-538: A user data protection policy because violating this policy could potentially damage the app’s brand of customer privacy. Government agencies have been unable to break Telegram's encryption technology. On Telegram, ISIS often uses the hashtag #KhilafahNews to attract their users. Telegram is used by ISIS to plan social media campaigns on alternate platforms. The organization also uses Telegram as an anchor platform to connect with their user base when their other accounts are banned on Twitter and Facebook. On 28 February 2016

2256-586: A video was uploaded in which they urged lone wolves to attempt to attack during the Holy Week in Sevilla and Málaga . In Sevilla, a jihadist who intended to perform a lone wolf attack was arrested. In October 2019, it was reported that ISIS recruitment content was discovered on TikTok . Approximately two dozen accounts were subsequently shut down in response. Justpaste.it , an anonymous photo and text sharing website, has also been utilized heavily. With

2350-696: A video was uploaded threatening to expose the najaasah and shoot the hesitates. Produced by Ibn-Altayb and distributed by Al-Hayat , the video shows footage of Bruxelles attacks and the victims. In July 2017, Telegram came under scrutiny from the media and news media outlets. It has been documented that ISIS gunmen have used this app to maintain contact with ISIS leaders in Raqqa days before terror attacks in Turkey, Berlin , and St. Petersburg . Despite concerns from Western media, there has been little to no action taken against ISIS accounts on Telegram. In April 2019

2444-793: A wide variety of motives for why fighters may be prompted to join ISIS. Researchers from Quantum cite nine attributes characteristic of a fighter looking to join ISIS: status seeking, identity seeking, revenge, redemption, thrill, ideology, justice, and death. The standard ISIS recruit, both from the Middle East and Western countries, is relatively young. The average age of ISIS fighters is around 26 years old, with 86% of recruits being male. Middle Eastern recruits come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Northern Iraq. Recent destruction in

2538-509: A worldwide caliphate . The name "Islamic State" and the group's claim to be a caliphate have been widely rejected, with the UN, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups refusing to use the new name. The group's declaration of a new caliphate in June 2014 and its adoption of the name "Islamic State" have been criticised and ridiculed by Muslim scholars and rival Islamists both inside and outside

2632-463: A year, before declaring itself to be a worldwide caliphate , called simply the Islamic State ( الدولة الإسلامية , ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah ). As a caliphate, IS demanded the religious, political, and military obedience of Muslims worldwide , despite the rejection of its legitimacy by mainstream Muslims and its statehood by the United Nations and most governments. Designated

2726-740: Is also meant to intimidate and spread terror around the world. ISIS's posting of beheadings and other execution videos primarily target the Western world. ISIS produces propaganda videos that range from video executions to full-length documentaries. The videos have a high production quality and incorporate montages, slow motion scenes, and are often accompanied by a short dialogue. ISIS has a dedicated team of over 100 media insurgents dedicated to recording these videos. The ISIS executions typically consist of beheadings or mass shootings in retaliation to western intervention in ISIS territory. The particular videos that ISIS often post include executions of "enemies of

2820-408: Is considered as the key inspiration for early figures of IS. Al-Muhajir's legal manual on violence, Fiqh ad-Dima ( The Jurisprudence of Jihad or The Jurisprudence of Blood ), was adopted by IS as its standard reference for justifying its extraordinary acts of violence. The book has been described by counter-terrorism scholar Orwa Ajjoub as rationalising and justifying "suicide operations,

2914-421: Is estimated that approximately 20% of all ISIS affiliated Twitter accounts can be traced back to fake accounts created by the same user. Many of these accounts are traced back to the “Baqiya family,” which is an online network of thousands of ISIS followers. Many of these accounts are active during important ISIS military victories. During the ISIS march on Mosul, there were about 42,000 tweets on Twitter supporting

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3008-647: Is represented by the symbolism in the Black Standard variant of the legendary battle flag of Muhammad that it has adopted: the flag shows the Seal of Muhammad within a white circle, with the phrase above it, " There is no god but Allah ". This symbolism is said to symbolize IS's belief that it represents the restoration of the caliphate of early Islam , with all the political, religious and eschatological ramifications that this would imply. Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir, an Egyptian Jihadist theoretician and ideologue

3102-511: The 2016 Berlin truck attack , the 6 June 2017 attacks on Tehran , the 22 May 2017 bombing in Manchester , and the 3 June 2017 attacks in London that IS claimed credit for). IS has been described as a terrorist group adhering to Salafi jihadism . Raqqa in Syria was under IS control from 2013 and in 2014 it became the group's de facto capital city. On 17 October 2017, following

3196-784: The Al Saud family , rather they consider them apostates. The call for a global caliphate is another departure from Wahhabism. The caliphate, understood in Islamic law as the ideal Islamic polity uniting all Muslim territories, does not figure much in traditional Najdi writings. Ironically, Wahhabism emerged as an anti-caliphate movement. Although violence was not absent in the First Saudi State, Islamic State's displays of beheading, immolation, and other forms of violence aimed at inspiring fear are not in imitation of early Saudi practices. They were introduced by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who took inspiration from

3290-504: The Caliphate ," which often consist of westerners or Jordanian nationals. Most infamously, an executioner nicknamed Jihadi John was seen in many of these videos prior to his death in 2015. Jihadi John is notorious for executing many US, UK, and Japanese citizens such as Steven Sotloff , David Haines , and Alan Henning . In many of the videos and materials produced by ISIS, there is the theme of inclusion and brotherhood. Additionally,

3384-521: The Iraq War and Syrian Civil War has created hatred of Western Powers in the region. Western recruits are often second or third-generation immigrants. Computer scientists Zeeshan ul-hassan Usmani also found that the majority of the Western recruits do not feel "at home" in their home country. As a result, these fighters often have desires to go abroad and escape conditions in their home country. In addition to recruitment, ISIS's social media presence

3478-510: The November 2015 Paris attacks ), to polarise by driving Muslim populations – particularly in the West – away from their governments, thus increasing the appeal of IS's self-proclaimed caliphate among them, and to: "Eliminate neutral parties through either absorption or elimination". Journalist Rukmini Maria Callimachi also emphasises IS's interest in polarisation or in eliminating what it calls

3572-817: The November 2015 Paris attacks , the 2024 Kerman bombings in Iran, and the 2024 Crocus City Hall attack in Russia. After 2015, the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces pushed back IS and degraded its financial and military infrastructure, assisted by advisors, weapons, training, supplies, and airstrikes by the American-led coalition , and later by Russian airstrikes, bombings, cruise missile attacks, and scorched-earth tactics across Syria, which focused mostly on razing Syrian opposition strongholds rather than IS bases. By March 2019, IS lost

3666-515: The surface web are subject to scrutiny and regulations by corporations, government agencies, and hackers. ISIS has been forced to look for a new online safe haven; thus, it posts a variety of content on the Dark Web as well as their own internally generated platforms. ISIS's usage of dark web has made anti-terrorism work more difficult. Using the dark web, ISIS has made their own platform to increase their ability to spread their message. Without

3760-410: The "grey zone" between the black (non-Muslims) and white (IS). "The gray is moderate Muslims who are living in the West and are happy and feel engaged in the society here." A work published online in 2004 entitled Management of Savagery ( Idarat at Tawahoush ), described by several media outlets as influential on IS and intended to provide a strategy to create a new Islamic caliphate, recommended

3854-433: The 'Daesh cutthroats'." Retired general John Allen , the U.S. envoy appointed to co-ordinate the coalition; U.S. Army Lieutenant General James Terry , head of operations against the group; and Secretary of State John Kerry had all shifted towards use of the term Daesh by December 2014, which nonetheless remained a pejorative in 2021. The ideology of the Islamic State , or Islamic Statism has been described as being

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3948-668: The Arch of Triumph was carved into stone, from these models, and installed in London's Trafalgar Square in 2016. A number of small artefacts were reconstructed and displayed at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. A 10-foot model of part of the Tetrapylon, printed in a single piece, was unveiled at the April 2017 Creative Commons Summit. The project began to hold public events, partner with design groups and 3D printing shops, and receive press coverage starting in 2015. Reviving Palmyra ,

4042-477: The Egyptian Jihadi scholar, Abu Abdallah Al Muhajir. It is the latter's legal manual on violence, popularly known as Fiqh ad-Dima (The Jurisprudence of Blood), that is the Islamic State's standard reference for justifying its acts of violence. The Islamic State's apocalyptic dimension also lacks a mainstream Wahhabi precedent. IS aims to return to the early days of Islam, rejecting all innovations in

4136-538: The End Times fill Islamic State propaganda. It's a big selling point with foreign fighters, who want to travel to the lands where the final battles of the apocalypse will take place. The civil wars raging in those countries today [Iraq and Syria] lend credibility to the prophecies. The Islamic State has stoked the apocalyptic fire. ... For Bin Laden's generation, the apocalypse wasn't a great recruiting pitch. Governments in

4230-596: The Islamic State The Islamic State is a militant group and a former unrecognised proto-state . The group sophisticatedly utilizes social media as a tool for spreading its message and for international recruitment. The Islamic State is widely known for its posting of disturbing content, such as beheading videos, on the internet. This propaganda is disseminated through websites and many social media platforms such as Twitter , Facebook , Telegram , and YouTube . By utilizing social media ,

4324-486: The Middle East two decades ago were more stable, and sectarianism was more subdued. It was better to recruit by calling to arms against corruption and tyranny than against the Antichrist. Today, though, the apocalyptic recruiting pitch makes more sense than before. Since at latest 2004, a significant goal of the group has been the foundation of a Sunni Islamic state . Specifically, ISIL has sought to establish itself as

4418-726: The Muslim lands were dealt with, according to the Islamist manual Management of Savagery . Documents found after the death of Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, a former colonel in the intelligence service of the Iraqi Air Force before the US invasion who had been described as "the strategic head" of ISIL, detailed planning for the ISIL takeover of northern Syria which made possible "the group's later advances into Iraq". Al-Khlifawi called for

4512-489: The Qur'an and Muslim traditions. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi , the first Emir of the Islamic State of Iraq , was radicalised as a Muslim Brotherhood member during his youth. Motaz Al-Khateeb states that religious texts and Islamic jurisprudence "alone cannot explain the emergence" of Daesh since the Muslim Brotherhood and Daesh "draw on the same Islamic jurisprudence" but "are diametrically opposite" in strategy and behavior. Through

4606-503: The Redirect Method. After facing growing pressure from the government leaders, Facebook announced that the company is using Artificial Intelligence to detect terrorism related contents, their effort would extend to other Facebook owned platforms such as WhatsApp . “The Redirect Method uses Adwords targeting tools and curated YouTube videos uploaded by people all around the world to confront online radicalization. It focuses on

4700-547: The Salafi-jihadi movement that evolved out of the Afghan jihad. One difference between IS and other Islamist and jihadist movements, including al-Qaeda , is the group's emphasis on eschatology and apocalypticism – that is, a belief in a final Day of Judgment by God. IS believes that it will defeat the army of "Rome" at the town of Dabiq . The noted scholar of militant Islamism Will McCants writes: References to

4794-528: The US Joint Special Operations Command . On 30 November 2022, IS announced that their unidentified leader had been killed in battle and named a successor, providing no additional information other than his pseudonym . A spokesman for U.S. Central Command confirmed that IS's leader had been killed in mid-October by anti-government rebels in southern Syria. On 16 February 2023, senior IS leader Hamza al-Homsi blew himself up in

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4888-536: The US State Department, David Kilcullen , has said that "There undeniably would be no Isis if we had not invaded Iraq." It has been reported that Iraqis and Syrians have been given greater precedence over other nationalities within IS because the group needs the loyalties of the local Sunni populations in both Syria and Iraq in order to be sustainable. Other reports, however, have indicated that Syrians are at

4982-578: The United States to combat terrorism. Russia had previously claimed Baghdadi was killed in May 2019 by their airstrike. In September 2019, a statement attributed to IS's propaganda arm, the Amaq news agency , claimed that Abdullah Qardash was named as al-Baghdadi's successor. Analysts dismissed this statement as a fabrication, and relatives were reported as saying that Qardash died in 2017. Rita Katz ,

5076-620: The United States, Canada, Turkey, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other countries generally call the group ISIL, while much of the Arab world uses the Arabic acronym Dāʻish or Daesh. France's 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

5170-693: The allegiance of all devout Muslims worldwide according to Islamic jurisprudence ( fiqh ). ISIL has detailed its goals in its Dabiq magazine, saying it will continue to seize land and take over the entire Earth until its: Blessed flag...covers all eastern and western extents of the Earth, filling the world with the truth and justice of Islam and putting an end to the falsehood and tyranny of jahiliyyah [state of ignorance], even if America and its coalition despise such. According to German journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer , who spent ten days embedded with ISIL in Mosul ,

5264-491: The current Saudi Arabian government in that category. IS believes that only a legitimate authority can undertake the leadership of jihad and that the first priority over other areas of combat, such as fighting non-Muslim countries, is the purification of Islamic society. For example, IS regards the Palestinian Sunni group Hamas as apostates who have no legitimate authority to lead jihad and see fighting Hamas as

5358-503: The encrypted messages of Justpaste.it. Despite creating their own platforms periodically, they were considerably more difficult to navigate; thus ISIS returned to using Justpaste.it. ISIS created The Dawn of Glad Tidings, an Arabic-language application. This app shares many of the tweets, pictures, and videos from ISIS sympathetic Twitter accounts. Additionally, it allowed users to see and monitor hashtags, tweets, images, videos, and comments that were posted on their accounts. The application

5452-430: The first step towards confrontation by IS with Israel. Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye said: The Islamic State was drafted by Sayyid Qutb, taught by Abdullah Azzam, globalized by Osama bin Laden, transferred to reality by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and implemented by al-Baghdadis: Abu Omar and Abu Bakr. The Islamic State added a focus on sectarianism to a layer of radical views. In particular, it linked itself to

5546-617: The group adopted the name ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām ( الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام ). As al-Shām is a region often compared with the Levant or the region of Syria , the group's name has been variously translated as "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ", "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (both abbreviated as ISIS), or "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (abbreviated as ISIL). In 2014, Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah dubbed ISIS as QSIS for "al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria", arguing that ISIL does not represent

5640-429: The group from official Saudi religious beliefs. What connection, if any, there is between Salafi-Jihadism of IS and Wahhabism and Salafism proper is disputed. IS borrowed two elements of Qutbism and 20th century Islamism into its version of Wahhabi worldview. While Wahhabism shuns violent rebellion against earthly rulers, IS embraces political call to revolutions. While historically Wahhabis were not champion activists of

5734-514: The group whilst speaking amongst themselves, although—and to a certain extent because⁠—it is considered derogatory, as it resembles the Arabic words Daes ("one who crushes, or tramples down, something underfoot") and Dāhis (loosely translated as "one who sows discord"). Within areas under its control, ISIL considers use of the name Daesh punishable by flogging . In late June 2014, the group renamed itself ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah ( lit.   ' Islamic State ' or IS), declaring itself

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5828-426: The hard-line ideology of al-Qaeda and many other modern-day jihadist groups. 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 group's territory have shown Wahhabi texts plastered on

5922-482: The human rights abuses. Social control of civilians was by imposition of IS's reading of sharia law, enforced by morality police forces known as Al-Hisbah and the all-women Al-Khanssaa Brigade , a general police force, courts, and other entities managing recruitment, tribal relations, and education. Al-Hisbah was led by Abu Muhammad al-Jazrawi. In 2015, IS published a penal code including floggings, amputations, crucifixions, etc. Social media use by

6016-485: The infiltration of areas to be conquered with spies who would find out "as much as possible about the target towns: Who lived there, who was in charge, which families were religious, which Islamic school of religious jurisprudence they belonged to, how many mosques there were, who the imam was, how many wives and children he had and how old they were". Following this surveillance and espionage would come murder and kidnapping – "the elimination of every person who might have been

6110-638: The intervention of corporate actors or government entities, ISIS has been able to freely spread their messages on their own platforms and websites. In 2017, Europol, the European Police, was able to uncover 52 unique online ISIS networks on the dark web. These 52 unique networks contained over 2,000 unique extremist items. ISIS social media posts have mobilized ordinary citizens throughout the world and other radical jihadists groups to act upon their digitized demands. Their methods have worked to effectively recruit younger individuals to join their groups in

6204-399: The invasion. During 2014, ISIS became very active on Telegram after many major social media platforms banned ISIS content and sympathetic accounts. Telegram is an encrypted messaging application. The platform by nature is created as an end-to-end user encryption platform. Further, it also has special features such as the self-destruct timer which erase all evidence and messages. The app has

6298-647: The last of its territories in West Asia , although its affiliates maintained a significant territorial presence in Africa as of 2024. The Islamic State, abbreviated IS, is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL / ˈ aɪ s ɪ l / ), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS / ˈ aɪ s ɪ s / ), and by its Arabic acronym Da'ish or Daesh ( داعش , Dāʿish , IPA: [ˈdaːʕɪʃ] ), and also as Dawlat al-Islam (Arabic: دولة الإسلام). In April 2013, having expanded into Syria,

6392-521: The members of its military and security committees and the majority of its emirs and princes—are former Iraqi military and intelligence officers, specifically former members of Saddam Hussein 's Ba'ath government who lost their jobs and pensions in the de-Ba'athification process after that regime was overthrown. The former Chief Strategist in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism of

6486-537: The most invoked ideological figures of IS include Ibn Taymiyya , Abdullah Azzam, and Abu Bakr Naji . Although IS claims to adhere to the Salafi theology of Ibn Taymiyyah , it rejects traditional Salafi interpretations as well as the four Sunni schools of law, and anathematizes the majority of Salafis as heretics . IS ideologues rarely uphold adherence to Islamic scholarship and law manuals for reference, mostly preferring to derive rulings based on self-interpretation of

6580-442: The mutilation of corpses, beheading, and the killing of children and non-combatants." His theological and legal justifications influenced IS, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram , as well as several other jihadi terrorist groups. Numerous media outlets have compared his reference manual to Abu Bakr Naji 's Management of Savagery , widely read among IS's commanders and fighters. IS adheres to global jihadist principles and follows

6674-679: The official statement of beliefs originally released by al-Baghdadi in 2007 and subsequently updated since June 2014, ISIL defined its creed as "a middle way between the extremist Kharijites and the lax Murji'ites ". ISIL's ideology represents radical Jihadi-Salafi Islam, a strict, puritanical form of Sunni Islam . Muslim organisations like Islamic Networks Group (ING) in America have argued against this interpretation of Islam . ISIL promotes religious violence , and regards Muslims who do not agree with its interpretations as infidels or apostates . According to Hayder al Khoei, IS's philosophy

6768-621: The ongoing civil war in Syria and the disintegrating local military forces of Iraq. By the end of 2015, its self-declared caliphate ruled an area with a population of about 12 million, where they enforced their extremist interpretation of Islamic law , managed an annual budget exceeding US$ 1   billion, and commanded more than 30,000 fighters. After a grinding conflict with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, IS lost control of all its Middle Eastern territories by 2019, subsequently reverting to insurgency from remote hideouts while continuing its propaganda efforts . These efforts have garnered

6862-560: The option to lock images, the website allows anonymous users to send and receive content without registration. For this reason, ISIS members have shared photos of countless murders, executions, and battlegrounds onto the app to be disseminated to other applications. There have been calls to shut down the site to prevent its usage by ISIS or other extremist groups. However, founder Mariusz Żurawek has resisted doing so. He stated, "I do not want to interfere with any type of conflict and stay on one side. Justpaste.it has many users. I cannot focus on

6956-820: The organization encourages their followers to use a plethora of Arabic hashtags, which translate to #theFridayofSupportingISIS, and #CalamityWillBefalltheUS. This allows them to gain followers each week while promoting their community and message on a weekly basis. During 2014, there were an estimated 46,000 to 90,000 Twitter accounts that advocated for ISIS or were run by supporters of the group. In 2015, Twitter reported that it banned 125,000 ISIS sympathetic accounts. In 2016, it published an update of 325,000 deleted accounts. Though many accounts have been suspended, ISIS supporters often create new accounts. Twitter defines those who recreate accounts as “resurgents” and explains that these are often difficult accounts to remove completely, since they tend to pop back up in alternate forms. It

7050-480: The organization has garnered a strong following and successfully recruited tens of thousands of followers from around the world. In response to its successful use of social media, many websites and social media platforms have banned accounts and removed content promoting the Islamic State from their platforms. ISIS targets a variety of different groups both in the Middle East and Western Countries . There are

7144-466: The religion, which it believes corrupts its original spirit. It condemns later caliphates and the Ottoman Empire for deviating from what it calls pure Islam and seeks to revive the original Qutbist project of the restoration of a global caliphate that is governed by a strict Salafi-Jihadi doctrine. Following Salafi-Jihadi doctrines, IS condemns the followers of secular law as disbelievers, putting

7238-548: The sides of an official missionary van. According to The Economist , Saudi practices followed by the group include the establishment of religious police to root out "vice" and enforce attendance at Salah prayers, the widespread use of capital punishment , and the destruction or re-purposing of any non- Sunni religious buildings. Bernard Haykel has described IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's creed as "a kind of untamed Wahhabism". Senior Saudi religious leaders have issued statements condemning IS, and attempting to distance

7332-508: The site over a 4 decades, with the majority of images taken in the early 2000s and 2010s. This archive has been used in a number of forensic reconstruction projects, providing key data for photogrammetric reconstruction. One of the best known structures in Palmyra was the monumental Arch of Triumph (قوس النصر). Constructed during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (193 to 211), it was sometimes mistakenly referred to as Hadrian ’s arch. It

7426-549: The slice of ISIS’ audience that is most susceptible to its messaging, and redirects them towards curated YouTube videos debunking ISIS recruiting themes. This open methodology was developed from interviews with ISIS defectors, respects users’ privacy and can be deployed to tackle other types of violent recruiting discourses online.” By using this tactic, Jigsaw catches slogans that manifest any positive ISIS sentiments, like Baqiyah wa Tatamadad ('Remaining and Expanding'), and Al Dawla Al Islameyah , which includes al-Dawla ,

7520-402: The task of ensuring that all decisions made by the governors and councils comply with the group's interpretation of sharia . While al-Baghdadi had told followers to "advise me when I err" in sermons, according to observers "any threat, opposition, or even contradiction is instantly eradicated". According to Iraqis, Syrians, and analysts who study the group, almost all of IS's leaders—including

7614-513: The territory it controls. In a speech in September 2014, United States President Barack Obama said that ISIL was neither Islamic (on the basis that no religion condones the killing of innocents) nor a state (in that no government recognises the group as a state), while 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 ,

7708-466: The vast majority of Muslims. While the use of either one or the other acronym has been the subject of debate, the distinction between the two and its relevance has been considered less important. Of greater relevance is the name Daesh, which is an acronym of ISIL's Arabic name ad-Dawlah al-Islamīyah fī l-ʻIrāq wa-sh-Shām. Dāʿish ( داعش ), or Daesh. This name has been widely used by ISIL's Arabic-speaking detractors, for example when referring to

7802-904: The videos also focus on three main messages: These messages can be seen throughout all content produced by the Islamic State such as war documentaries, execution videos, and Rumiyah (magazine) . From 2013 to 2014, the organization primarily used mainstream platforms such as Twitter , Facebook , and YouTube . In 2014, these large social media platforms removed ISIS content. Since then, ISIS has chosen to utilize social media platforms that either protect their content or allow for content to quickly be reposted. These platforms of choice are Telegram , Justpaste.it , and Surespot . ISIS also implements marketing initiatives like “Jihadist Follow Friday,” which encourages users to follow new ISIS-related accounts each Friday. This specific hashtag mirrors commonly used hashtags such as #motivation monday or #throwbackthursday. To augment their online presence and popularity,

7896-451: The view he kept hearing was that ISIL wants to "conquer the world", and that all who do not believe in the group's interpretation of the Quran will be killed. Todenhöfer was struck by the ISIL fighters' belief that "all religions who agree with democracy have to die", and by their "incredible enthusiasm" – including enthusiasm for killing "hundreds of millions" of people. When the caliphate

7990-496: Was believed to be under the overall command of IS's most senior Syrian operative, spokesman and propaganda chief Abu Mohammad al-Adnani until his death by airstrike in late August 2016. On 27 October 2019, the United States conducted a special operation targeting al-Baghdadi's compound in Barisha , Idlib , Northwest Syria. The attack resulted in al-Baghdadi's death ; caught by surprise and unable to escape, al-Baghdadi detonated

8084-508: Was destroyed by ISIL in May 2015. The Temple of Baal Shamin dates to the 2nd century BC, and dedicated to the Canaanite sky deity. Its altar was built in 115 AD, and the temple was rebuilt in 131 AD. In the 5th century AD, it was converted to a church. In 2015 it was destroyed by ISIL. This was the first statue modeled by #rsssd (Re-Sculpting Syrian Statues Digitally). In 2015 it was destroyed by ISIL. A 12-ton lifesize replica of part of

8178-495: Was erected during the renovations of Diocletian at the end of the 3rd century. Each column had a pedestal in its center that originally supported a statue. The original columns were brought from Egypt and carved out of pink granite. Only one was undamaged in 1963 when the whole was restored with concrete. Destroyed again by ISIL on January 20, 2017. This ancient temple was dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Bel in 32 AD. Bel

8272-578: Was excellent. We really had great cooperation" and Turkey knew they were going in. He thanked Turkey, Russia, Syria, Iraq and the Syrian Kurdish forces for their support. The Turkish Defence Ministry also confirmed on Sunday that Turkish and U.S. military authorities exchanged and coordinated information ahead of an attack in Syria's Idlib. Fahrettin Altun , a senior aide to Turkish President Tayyib Erdogan, also stated, among other things, that "Turkey

8366-568: Was originally intended for ISIS followers to have a private online forum to communicate. This app was downloaded several hundred times on the Google Play app store before being taken down. As the November 2015 attacks in Paris demonstrate, ISIS also resorts to old-fashioned methods of communication and propaganda . Lewis notes that the attacks in Paris represent a ' propaganda of the deed ',

8460-618: Was proclaimed, ISIL stated: "The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organisations becomes null by the expansion of the khilafah's [caliphate's] authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas." This was a rejection of the political divisions in Southwestern Asia that were established by the UK and France during World War I in the Sykes–Picot Agreement . All non-Muslim areas would be targeted for conquest after

8554-421: Was proud to help the United States, our NATO ally, bring a notorious terrorist to justice" and that Turkey "will continue to work closely with the United States and others to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say if the United States had told Russia about the raid in advance but said that its result if confirmed, represented a serious contribution by

8648-404: Was referring to IS spokesman and senior leader Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir , who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria two days earlier. On 31 October, IS named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi as Baghdadi's successor. On 3 February 2022, it was reported by a US official that al-Hashimi killed himself and members of his family by triggering an explosive device during a counter-terrorism raid by

8742-538: Was restored in the 1930s, and then destroyed completely during the Syrian Civil War in 2015. Palmyra's main streets were not at right angles, and this arch was famously built at a 30-degree turn in the colonnade between the tetrapylon (التترابيل) and the Temple of Bel (معبد بل), with two richly carved façades angled away from one another. A square platform, each corner containing a group of four columns. This

8836-454: Was worshipped at Palmyra along with the moon god Aglibol and the sun god Yarhibol. The ruins of the temple were among the best preserved at Palmyra. they were destroyed by ISIL in August, 2015. The Roman Theatre at Palmyra (المسرح الروماني بتدمر) dates to the time of Severus. Its remains were restored in the 20th century, and it served for a time as a venue for the annual Palmyra festival. It

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