:
Started as an al Qaeda splinter group.
Also known as Islamic State in Iraq and
the Levant and Islamic State (IS).
Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The aim of ISIS is to create an Islamic
state across Sunni areas of Iraq and in
Syria .
ISIS is known for killing dozens of people at a time
and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and
other acts. It has taken over large swaths of
northern and western Iraq.
The group currently controls hundreds of square
miles. It ignores international borders and has a
presence from Syria's Mediterranean coast to
south of Baghdad. It rules by Sharia law.
ISIS's initial strategy for revenue was through
extortion and robbery. Recently, al-Baghdadi's
strategy shifted to generating resources through
large-scale attacks aimed at capturing and holding
territory.
Unable to serve under the new Iraq government
after Saddam Hussein's military was disbanded,
former Iraqi soldiers became ISIS fighters,
according to Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges.
Timeline:
2004 - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi establishes al Qaeda
in Iraq (AQI).
2006 - Under al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda in Iraq tries to
ignite a sectarian war against the majority Shia
community.
June 7, 2006 - Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-
Muhajer, takes his place as leader of AQI.
October 2006 - AQI leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri
announces the creation of Islamic State in Iraq (ISI),
and establishes Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as its
leader.
April 2010 - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes leader
of ISI after Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub
al-Masri are killed in a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation.
April 8, 2013 - ISI declares its absorption of an al
Qaeda-backed militant group in Syria, Jabhat al-
Nusra, also known as the al-Nusra Front. Al-
Baghdadi says that his group will now be known as
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
April 2013 - Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed
al-Jawlani rejects ISIS's attempt to merge with the
group.
February 3, 2014 - Al Qaeda renounces ties to ISIS
after months of infighting between al-Nusra Front
and ISIS.
May 2014 - ISIS kidnaps more than 140 Kurdish
schoolboys in Syria , forcing them to take lessons in
radical Islamic theology.
June 9, 2014 - Monday night into Tuesday, militants
seize Mosul's airport, its TV stations and the
governor's office. ISIS frees up to 1,000 prisoners.
June 10, 2014 - ISIS takes control of Mosul.
June 11, 2014 - ISIS takes control of Tikrit.
June 21, 2014 - ISIS takes control of Al-Qaim, a
town on the border with Syria, as well as three
other Iraqi towns.
June 28, 2014 - Iraqi Kurdistan restricts border
crossings into the region for refugees fleeing the
fighting.
June 29, 2014 - ISIS announces the creation of a
caliphate (Islamic state) that erases all state
borders, making al-Baghdadi the self-declared
authority over the world's estimated 1.5 billion
Muslims. The group also announces a name change
to the Islamic State (IS).
June 30, 2014 - The United Nations announces that
an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis have been forced
from their homes.
June 30, 2014 - The Pentagon announces the
United States is sending an additional 300 troops to
Iraq, bringing the total U.S. forces in Iraq to nearly
800. Troops and military advisers sent to Iraq are
there to add security to the U.S. Embassy and the
airport in Baghdad, and to provide support to Iraqi
security forces.
July 2014 - In Syria, all the cities between Deir
Ezzor city and the Iraq border have fallen to ISIS,
says Omar Abu Leila, a spokesman for the rebel
Free Syrian Army.
July 3, 2014 - ISIS takes control of a major Syrian
oil field, al-Omar. It is the country's largest oil field
and can produce 75,000 barrels of oil daily.
July 17, 2014 - In Syria's Homs province, ISIS
claims to have killed 270 people after storming and
seizing the Shaer gas field.
July 24, 2014 - ISIS militants blow up Jonah's tomb,
a holy site in Mosul.
August 8, 2014 - Two U.S. F/A-18 jet fighters bomb
artillery of Sunni Islamic extremists in Iraq.
President Barack Obama has authorized "targeted
airstrikes" if needed to protect U.S. personnel from
fighters with ISIS. The U.S. military also could use
airstrikes to prevent what officials warn could be a
genocide of minority groups by the ISIS fighters.
August 19, 2014 - In a video posted on YouTube,
U.S. journalist James Foley, missing in Syria since
2012, is decapitated by ISIS militants . The militants
then threaten the life of another captured U.S.
journalist, believed to be Steven Sotloff.
September 2, 2014 - ISIS releases a video showing
the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff.
Sotloff's apparent executioner speaks in what
sounds like the same British accent as the man
who purportedly killed Foley. He's dressed
identically in both videos, head to toe in black, with
a face mask and combat boots. He appears to be of
similar build and height. He waves a knife in his left
hand, as did the militant in the video of Foley's
death.
September 13, 2014 - ISIS militants post video on a
website associated with the group, showing the
apparent execution of British aid worker David
Haines. This makes him the third Western captive
to be killed by the Islamist extremist group in recent
weeks. ISIS directs a statement at British Prime
Minister David Cameron, threatening more
destruction if Britian continues its "evil alliance with
America." At the end of the video, the executioner
threatens the life of Alan Henning, another British
citizen held captive. The executioner appears to be
the same one who killed both Steven Sotloff and
James Foley.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/

God help us all

Okay