Born from an especially brutal al Qaeda faction, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has
grown from relative obscurity in recent years to overshadow its extremist patrons. It now
terrorizes large swaths of Syria and Iraq, has become the target of the largest U.S. military
operation in Iraq in years and, with the public, cold-blooded execution of multiple Westerners,
dominates headlines the world over.
Where Did ISIS Come From?
While extremist groups are generally amorphous organizations, ISIS can trace its history directly
back to the Sunni terrorist organization al Qaeda, specifically the Iraq faction, al Qaeda in Iraq
(AQI). AQI, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was responsible for scores of bombings, kidnappings
and beheadings in Iraq following the U.S. invasion there. After al-Zarqawi was killed in 2006 by
an American airstrike, leadership of the group eventually fell to an experienced Iraqi fighter, Abu
Du’a, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
AQI was weakened in Iraq in 2007 as a result of what is known as the Sunni Awakening, when
a large alliance of Iraqi Sunni tribes, supported by the U.S., fought against the jihadist group.
AQI saw an opportunity to regain its power and expand its ranks in the Syrian conflict that
started in 2011, moving into Syria from Iraq. By 2013, al-Baghdadi had spread his group’s
influence back into Iraq and changed the group’s name to ISIS, “reflecting its greater regional
ambitions,” according to the U.S. State Department. ISIS, as the group has been identified by
ABC News and other news organizations, refers to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Different
translations of the Arabic name al-Baghdadi gave his organization have spawned other Englishlanguage versions such as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (also ISIS) or the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Is ISIS Part of Al Qaeda?
Although originally an al Qaeda affiliate, ISIS and al-Baghdadi had a public falling out last year
with Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s replacement and leader of al Qaeda “core,” over
the role of another al Qaeda group, the al-Nursa Front, in Syria. This February a letter obtained
by the Long War Journal reportedly showed al Qaeda’s senior leadership was so fed up with alBaghdadi that it severed all connection with ISIS. By declaring himself the “caliph” of the Islamic
State in June, al-Baghdadi appears to have challenged al-Zawahiri directly for the allegiance of
all Muslim extremists.
How Has ISIS Been So Successful in Iraq?
ISIS has seen a series of successes as it has cut its way from Syria into Iraq and towards
Baghdad using a combination of military expertise and unimaginable brutality. Social media
accounts associated with ISIS have published disturbing videos purportedly showing ISIS
fighters taunting, torturing and executing scores of unarmed prisoners. In addition, former senior
U.S. military officials who served in Iraq and helped train the Iraqi security forces said that ISIS
has been able to take advantage of government forces who lack the motivation to put up a good
fight against ISIS in some areas.
The Iraqi government and much of its military officer corps are mostly made up of Shi’a
Muslims, whereas much of the areas ISIS has retained in Iraq is predominantly Sunni, like ISIS
–- meaning the Iraqi military forces are often operating in areas where the local population may
be more willing to tolerate, or even support ISIS. ISIS has also built relations of convenience
with disgruntled local Sunni tribes and ex-Baathists who have felt marginalized and
disenfranchised by the Maliki-led government in Baghdad, which has been accused of favoring
Shi’as. ISIS wasn’t handed its first major defeat until mid-August when Kurdish and Iraqi forces,
supported by an aggressive U.S. aerial bombing campaign, pushed the terror group off the
Mosul Dam, a key piece of infrastructure.
How Big Is ISIS and Where Are They Getting Their Fighters?
Western officials only have rough estimates on ISIS’s total fighting force, but the CIA says the
group could have more than 30,000 fighters. Most disturbing to western security officials, they
say, is the huge portion of foreign fighters who left their homes and at times traveled halfway
around the world to join the terror group. Matthew Olsen, the director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, said in July that more than 12,000 foreign fighters had traveled to
Syria to fight with extremist groups, many of them now counted among ISIS’s ranks, including
more than 1,000 westerners, around 100 of them American. Later estimates put the number of
foreign fighters in Syria at approximately 15,000.
Is ISIS a Threat to the U.S.?
Though al-Baghdadi has threatened the U.S. in general before, ISIS has primarily focused its
attention on its regional ambitions. That may have changed with the prominent U.S. role in
pushing ISIS off the Mosul Dam, as evidenced in the video of the execution of American
journalist James Foley and those that followed. In Foley’s video, a purported ISIS fighter
addressed President Obama directly, saying Foley’s death is retaliation for the U.S. airstrikes.
Likewise, ISIS threatened the U.K. to halt its support of strikes before murdering a British
national. In mid-September, an ISIS spokesperson called on Muslims the world over to kill
civilians in any country that joined the U.S.-led coalition against the terror group, including the
U.S.
ISIS Persecution of Minority Groups
ISIS has been especially ruthless in its targeting of minorities in areas that have come under its
control. In addition to the scores who have been brutally murdered, countless Christians,
Yazidis and other minorities have been forced to flee areas they’ve called home for centuries. In
August, thousands of Yazidis had to be rescued by Kurdish forces after being trapped with very
little food and water in harsh conditions on the Sinjar mountains where they hid from ISIS. ISIS
also brutalizes fellow Sunni and Shi’a Muslims who do not ascribe to its extreme interpretation
of the religion, and the group has destroyed priceless archaeological sites.
JAMES FOLEY IN ISIS HANDS
American journalist James Foley was on assignment for the news outlet GlobalPost to cover the
conflict in Syria when he was abducted in November 2012. Foley’s family, U.S. officials and
other reporters kept the kidnapping a secret until January 2013 when Foley’s family decided to
break their silence and beg for their son’s return.
Foley’s captors, whoever they were, hadn’t made contact, the family
said. The U.S. government increased its effort to find Foley, using unlikely messengers
including the Turks, the Czechs and the Russians to get word to potential abductors on either
side of the Syrian conflict. In November 2013 a ransom demand for an astronomical sum of
money -- $132 million -- was received, according to GlobalPost CEO Phil Balboni, but it wasn't
taken seriously. Efforts continued to free Foley, including a secret, failed U.S. military rescue
mission in the summer of 2014. But following U.S. airstrikes on ISIS in August, Foley was killed
on camera by a self-professed member of the terror group.
Days after the video of James Foley’s execution emerged, similar footage appeared online, this
time showing the apparent murder of another American journalist, Steven Sotloff. Sotloff was
featured in Foley’s video, with the militant telling President Obama that Sotloff’s life was in the
President’s hands. Undeterred, the U.S. continued to hit ISIS with dozens of airstrikes.
Sotloff was a freelance reporter whose work on the Middle East appeared in TIME and Foreign
Policy among others. He disappeared in Syria in August 2013. After Foley’s execution video
appeared online, Sotloff’s mother, Shirley, made a videotaped plea to ISIS leader al-Baghdadi
to have mercy on her son.
At the end of the video that appeared to show Sotloff’s death, the militant in black stands beside
another kneeling hostage, identified as a British citizen.
“We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America
against the Islamic State [ISIS] to back off and leave our people alone,” he says.
By Lee Ferran and Rym Momtaz