Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام‎ ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām Participant in the Iraq War (2003–2011), , Syrian Civil War, , , Boko Haram insurgency, War in North-West Pakistan, , , and other conflicts Primary target of Operation Inherent Resolve and of the military intervention against ISIL: in Syria, , Libya, and Nigeria.
Black Standard flag
Active	1999–present Established under the name of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad: 1999 Joined al-Qaeda: October 2004 Declaration of an Islamic state in Iraq: 13 October 2006 Claim of territory in the Levant: 8 April 2013 Separated from al-Qaeda: 3 February 2014 Declaration of caliphate: 29 June 2014 Claim of territory in: Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen: 13 November 2014 South Asia: 29 January 2015 Nigeria: 12 March 2015 North Caucasus: 23 June 2015
Ideology	Salafism, Salafi jihadism, Wahhabism
Groups	List of groups Libyan Province Sinai Province Yemen Province Algerian Province Khorasan Province West Africa Province Caucasus Province
Leaders	List of leaders Leader: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Deputy leader in Iraq: Abu Fatima al-Jaheishi Deputy leader in Syria: Abu Ali al-Anbari † Deputy leader in Libya: Abdel Baqer Al-Najdi Military chief: Abu Saleh al-Obaidi Head of the Shura Council: Abu Arkan al-Ameri Chief spokesperson: Abu Mohammad al-Adnani † Chief of Syrian military operations: Abu Omar al-Shishani † (presumed) Minister of War: Gulmurod Khalimov Minister of Information: Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad †
Headquarters	Al-Raqqah, Syria (de facto capital)
Area of operations	Areas of control as of 000000002016-11-09-0000November 9, 2016, in the , Syrian, and Lebanese conflicts Map legend   Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant   Iraqi government   Syrian government   Lebanese government   Iraqi Kurdistan forces   Syrian Kurdistan forces   Syrian opposition forces   al-Nusra Front   Hezbollah Note: Iraq and Syria contain large desert areas with limited populations. These areas are mapped as under the control of forces holding roads and towns within them. Detailed maps
Strength	List of combatant numbers Inside Syria and Iraq: 200,000 (Kurdish claim in 2014) 100,000 (Jihadist claim in 2014) 20,000–31,000 (CIA estimate in 2014) 19,000–25,000 (CIA estimate in early 2016) 15,000–20,000 (Estimate given by US officials in late 2016) Outside Syria and Iraq: 32,600–57,900 (See Military of ISIL for more detailed estimates.) Estimated total: 47,600–257,900
Originated as	Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (1999)

الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام‎
ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām
Participant in the Iraq War (2003–2011), , Syrian Civil War, , , Boko Haram insurgency, War in North-West Pakistan, , , and other conflicts

Salafism,

Salafi jihadism,

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, IPA /ˈaɪsᵻl/), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, /ˈaɪsᵻs/),Islamic State (IS), and by its Arabic language acronym Daesh (Arabic: داعش‎‎ dāʿish, IPA: [ˈdaːʕɪʃ]), is a Salafi jihadist unrecognised state and militant group that follows a fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. Its adoption of the name Islamic State and its idea of a caliphate have been widely criticised, with the United Nations, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups rejecting its .