LibGuides: Middle East Complexities: Culture & Conflict: ISIS/Islamic State

ISIS / Islamic State

The group that named itself “the Islamic State” has existed under various names and in various shapes since the early 1990s. Intense turmoil in Syria and Iraq has created socio-political vacuums in which jihadi groups have been able to thrive. The Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) had proven to be the strongest and most dynamic of these groups, seizing large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. Shortly after routing Iraqi forces and conquering Mosul in June 2014, ISIS boldly announced the establishment of a caliphate and renamed itself the Islamic State (IS).

Islamic State, Mapping Militant Organizations, Stanford University
Muslim Scholars Release Open Letter To Islamic State Meticulously Blasting Its Ideology
9/24/2014 - news article in Huffington Post.
Profiling the Islamic State
How did ISIS become such a powerful force? What are its goals and characteristics? What are the best options for containing and defeating the group? In this Brookings Doha Center Analysis Paper, Charles Lister traces IS’s roots from Jordan to Afghanistan, and finally to Iraq and Syria. He describes its evolution from a small terrorist group into a bureaucratic organization that currently controls thousands of square miles and is attempting to govern millions of people. Lister assesses the group’s capabilities, explains its various tactics, and identifies its likely trajectory. (December 1, 2014)
In Depth: The Fight Against ISIS
From CBS News, detailed coverage of the battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
ISIS: A Short History
A short history of ISIS from The Atlantic.
ISIS Terror - NBC News
Continuing coverage of the ISIS terror threat in Iraq and Syria.

The Origins of ISIS (Islamic State)

Published on Nov 17, 2014 by the Brookings Institution. Longtime CIA veteran and counterterrorism expert Bruce Riedel details the origins and history of ISIS and how the extremist group's self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi came to power.