The story
In June 2014 the jihadist group known as ISIS or the Islamic State takes Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, routing a much larger Iraqi army. On June 29 its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declares a caliphate, claiming authority over all Muslims, with Raqqa in Syria as its capital. At its peak the group holds a large part of Iraq and Syria, with roughly eight million people living under its rule.
The group grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni insurgency born after the 2003 invasion and the disbanding of Saddam's army. It was nearly defeated around 2008, but exploited the Syrian civil war after 2011 and the alienation of Sunnis under Iraq's government. It combined Baathist officers, foreign fighters, oil sales, taxes and extortion with a skillful online propaganda machine, and imposed a harsh version of Islamic law.
In August 2014 it attacked the Yazidi homeland around Sinjar, killing thousands of men and enslaving thousands of women and girls; a UN commission later found that this was genocide. A U.S.-led coalition began air strikes that month, and with Iraqi, Kurdish and Syrian Democratic Forces on the ground, the group lost Mosul in 2017, Raqqa the same year and its last village, Baghuz, in March 2019. Baghdadi died in a U.S. raid in October 2019. The group carried out or inspired attacks in Europe and elsewhere, and still operates as an insurgency.
Why it mattered
- It brought the United States back into war in Iraq and began the long coalition campaign in Iraq and Syria.
- The destruction of Mosul, Raqqa and other cities and the displacement of millions reshaped Iraq and Syria.
- The genocide against the Yazidis led to prosecutions and UN action on crimes in the conflict.
- Its attacks and recruits in Europe and elsewhere shaped counterterrorism policy for a decade.
Sources
- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Britannica
- UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria: ISIS is committing genocide against the Yazidis ecoi.net (UN Commission of Inquiry)
Community notes
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