Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

[third eye]

This is what I have come across on ISIS on Wiki.

I admit I have been taken by surprise by this orgnisation . Had no idea an orgnisation so strong and across so many borders borders can succeed in this manner to do what is doing.






The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (alternatively translated as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) (Arabic: الدولة الاسلامية في العراق والشام‎ ʾad-dawla ʾal-islāmiyya fīl-'irāq waš-šām or Arabic: داعش‎dāʿiš), abbreviated ISIS or ISIL, is an unrecognized state and active Jihadist militant group in Iraq and Syria influenced by the Wahhabi movement.

In its unrecognized self-proclaimed status as an independent state, it claims the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the
Levant—including Lebanon, Israel, Jordan,Cyprus and Southern Turkey.

On 13 October 2006, the group announced the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq, which claimed authority over Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, Ninawa and parts of Babel.[4] Following the 2013 expansion of the group into Syria and the announcement of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the number of wilayah(provinces) it claimed increased to 16. In addition to the seven Iraqi wilayah, the Syrian divisions, largely lying along existing provincial boundaries, are Al Barakah, Al Kheir, Al Raqqah, Al Badiya, Halab, Idlib, Hama, Damascus and the Coast

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

And I thought Boko Haram was bad.

ISIS seem far worse. The situation has become an all-out war, based on sectarian lines, of which a large part of the blame falls on the Iraqi government, for fueling the sectarian divide in the last few years.

And now ISIS is going to push the entire region over the boiling point.

 

[Dubious]

Isnt Levant Biblical area?

 

[third eye]

Isnt Levant Biblical area?

What is the Levant ?

image posted on a militant website appears to show members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS) leading away captured Iraqi soldiers after taking over a base in Tikrit.


Many in the international media are still not sure which of the two acronyms, ISIL and ISIS, is more suitable to describe the Sunni militia that recently made headlines as it captured the Iraqi city of Mosul and its adjoining districts.

Until recently it was referred to as ‘The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’, hence the acronym ISIL. The acronym now being commonly used is ISIS as the militant organisation is being referred to as ‘The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’. The Sunni militia, in Arabic, calls itself Al-Daulatul Islamiya fil Iraq wal-Shaam, meaning ‘The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’. Thus calling it ISIS is correct. But few in the media know that Levant is not the same as present-day Syria.

The Levant is an old term referring to countries of the eastern Mediterranean. Some scholars include in it Cyprus and a small part of Turkey. But basically the Levant has throughout history meant Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. This means Jordan, the West Bank (now under Israeli occupation) and Israel itself are part of the Levant.

For Pakistanis there is added confusion because we refer to Syria as Shaam. Which is misleading, because the country we call Shaam is referred to by the Arabs as Soorya.

In Arabic, the Levant is called Baldatush-Shaam, of which Soorya, with its capital at Damascus, is part. The Jordan river’s east bank was also part of Palestine. Now it is the state of Jordan and part of the Levant.

The Levant is the world’s most blood-drenched land, especially the coastal strip, for there is no other place in the world which has been fought for so much, the next being perhaps Flanders.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2014

 

[Dubious]

The Levant is the world’s most blood-drenched land, especially the coastal strip, for there is no other place in the world which has been fought for so much, the next being perhaps Flanders.

it is also mentioned in the Bible..

The Levant (/ləˈvænt/), also known as the Eastern Mediterranean, is a geographic and cultural region consisting of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatoliaand Egypt". The Levant today consists of the island of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and part of southern Turkey (the former Aleppo Vilayet).

Precise definitions have varied over time, and the term originally had a broader and less well-defined usage. The Levant has been described as the "crossroads ofwestern Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and northeast Africa".

 

[third eye]

With its multi-pronged assault across central and northern Iraq in the past one and a half weeks, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) has taken over from the al-Qa’ida organisation founded by Osama bin Laden as the most powerful and effective extreme jihadi group in the world.

Isis now controls or can operate with impunity in a great stretch of territory in western Iraq and eastern Syria, making it militarily the most successful jihadi movement ever.

While its exact size is unclear, the group is thought to include thousands of fighters. The last "s" of "Isis" comes from the Arabic word "al-Sham", meaning Levant, Syria or occasionally Damascus, depending on the circumstances.

Isis is highly fanatical, killing Shia Muslims and Christians whenever possible, as well as militarily efficient and under tight direction by top leaders.

The creation of a sort of proto-Caliphate by extreme jihadis in northern Syria and Iraq is provoking fears in surrounding countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey that they will become targets of battle-hardened Sunni fighters.

Tactics

The Isis tactic is to make a surprise attack, inflict maximum casualties and spread fear before withdrawing without suffering heavy losses. Isis specialises in using militarily untrained foreign volunteers as suicide bombers either moving on foot wearing suicide vests, or driving vehicles packed with explosives. Often more than one suicide bomber is used.

Why this sudden rise :

The swift rise of Isis since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became its leader has come because the uprising of the Sunni in Syria in 2011 led the Iraqi Sunni to protest about their political and economic marginalisation since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Peaceful demonstrations from the end of 2012 won few concessions, with Iraq’s Shia-dominated government convinced that the protesters wanted not reform but a revolution returning their community to power. The five or six million Iraqi Sunni became more alienated and sympathetic towards armed action by Isis.

The military sophistication of Isis in Iraq is much greater than al-Qa’ida, the organisation out of which it grew

Advantage : ISIS

Isis has the great advantage of being able to operate on both sides of the Syrian-Iraq border, though in Syria it is engaged in an intra-jihadi civil war with Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and other groups. But Isis controls Raqqa, the only provincial capital taken by the opposition, and much of eastern Syria outside enclaves held by the Kurds close to the Turkish border.

Who is Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?

In the space of a year he has become the most powerful jihadi leader in the world, and last week his forces captured Mosul, the northern capital of Iraq. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, also known as Abu Dua, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) has suddenly emerged as a figure who is shaping the future of Iraq, Syria and the wider Middle East.

Taking advantage of the Syrian civil war, al-Baghdadi sent experienced fighters and funds to Syria to set up Jabhat al-Nusra as al-Qa’ida’s affiliate in Syria. He split from it last year, but remains in control of a great swathe of territory in northern Syria and Iraq. Against fragmented and dysfunctional opposition, he is moving fast towards establishing himself as Emir of a new Islamic state.