Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام
ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām |
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Flag
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Anthem:
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Areas of control as of March 5, 2017 in the Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese conflicts.
Map legend
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Status | Unrecognized proto-state Designated as a terrorist organization |
Capital | Raqqa |
Official languages | Arabic |
Religion | Sunni Islam |
Government | Unitary Islamic theocratic totalitarian caliphate |
• Leader
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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi |
• Head of the Shura Council
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Abu Arkan al-Ameri |
War on Terror / Syrian Civil War | |
• Established under the name of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
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1999 |
• Joined al-Qaeda
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October 2004 |
• Declaration of an Islamic state in Iraq
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13 October 2006 |
• Claim of territory in the Levant
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8 April 2013 |
• Separated from al-Qaeda
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3 February 2014 |
• Declaration of caliphate
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29 June 2014 13 November 2014 (Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen) 29 January 2015 (South Asia) 12 March 2015 (Nigeria) 23 June 2015 (North Caucasus) |
Currency |
Islamic dinar de facto also Iraqi dinar, Syrian pound |
Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
• Summer (DST)
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EEST (UTC+3) |
Drives on the | right |
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is an active extremist Islamist rebel group and self-declared Caliphate in the Middle East that claims to be a sovereign state, and as such has made announcements of territorial control and aspirations of control. No other nation recognizes ISIL as a state. Its goal is the foundation of an Islamic state and a worldwide caliphate, in accordance with Salafi Islam, by the means of military jihad.
ISIL primarily claimed territory in Syria and Iraq, subdividing each country into multiple wilayah (provinces), largely based on preexisting governance boundaries. The first territorial claims by the group outside of Syria and Iraq were announced by its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on 13 November 2014, when he announced new wilayats, or provinces, in Libya (Wilayah al-Barqah, Wilayah al-Tarabulus, and Wilayah al-Fizan), Algeria (Wilayah al-Jazair), Egypt (Wilayah Sinai), Yemen (Wilayah al-Yaman), and Saudi Arabia (Wilayah al-Haramayn). In 2015, new provinces were also announced in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border (Wilayah Khorasan), Northern Nigeria (Wilayah Gharb Afrīqiyyah), and the North Caucasus (Wilayah al-Qawqaz).