The rise of ISIS, 2014 ECIP t.p. (ISIS) galley (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria; terrorist Sunni jihadist organization based in Iraq and Syria)
Washington post, June 18, 2014 and Sept. 17, 2014 (ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria; ISIL, Islamic State of Irag and the Levant; Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham; IS, Islamic State; DAIISH, DAASH, DAISH)
Wikipedia, Oct. 1, 2014 (art. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; the self-designated Islamic State (IS; Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah), which previously called itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS; Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام) and is also known by the Arabic acronym Dāʻish (داعش), is an unrecognized state and a Sunni jihadist extremist group active in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East ; ISIS originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999. This group was the forerunner of Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn commonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), a group formed by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in 2004 which took part in the Iraqi insurgency against American-led forces and their Iraqi allies following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. During the 2003-2011 Iraq War, it joined other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council, which consolidated further into the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) shortly afterwards. At its height it enjoyed a significant presence in the Iraqi governorates of Al Anbar, Nineveh, Kirkuk, most of Salah ad Din, parts of Babil, Diyala and Baghdad, and claimed Baqubah as a capital city. However, the violent attempts by the Islamic State of Iraq to govern its territory led to a backlash from Sunni Iraqis and other insurgent groups in around 2008 which helped to propel the Awakening movement and a temporary decline in the group. In April 2013, the group changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.)
