Picture retrieved from: http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2014_38/665581/140913-isis-militants-01_36eca3bf7c518cd8481745e9fb3f66dd.jpg |
The following dates and information came from a CNN article available at: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/
2004 - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi establishes al Qaeda in Iraq ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
2006 - Under al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda in Iraq tries to ignite a sectarian war against the majority Shia community ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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) ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
April 2013 - Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani rejects ISIS's attempt to merge with the group ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
February 3, 2014 - Al Qaeda renounces ties to ISIS after months of infighting between al-Nusra Front and ISIS ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
May 2014 - ISIS kidnaps more than 140 Kurdish schoolboys in Syria, forcing them to take lessons in radical Islamic theology ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
June 10, 2014 - ISIS takes control of Mosul ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
June 11, 2014 - ISIS takes control of Tikrit ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
June 21, 2014 - ISIS takes control of Al-Qaim, a town on the border with Syria, as well as three other Iraqi towns ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
June 28, 2014 - Iraqi Kurdistan restricts border crossings into the region for refugees fleeing the fighting ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
June 30, 2014 - The United Nations announces that an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis have been forced from their homes ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
July 17, 2014 - In Syria's Homs province, ISIS claims to have killed 270 people after storming and seizing the Shaer gas field ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
July 24, 2014 - ISIS militants blow up Jonah's tomb, a holy site in Mosul ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
September 11, 2014 - The CIA announces that the number of people fighting for ISIS may be more than three times the previous estimates. Analysts and U.S. officials initially estimated there were as many as 10,000 fighters, but now ISIS can "muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman tells CNN ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
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 Britain 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 ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
September 23, 2014 - The United States carries out airstrikes against ISIS. The bombing is focused on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, a city in northern Syria ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
October 3, 2014 - ISIS releases a video showing the apparent beheading of hostage Alan Henning. It blames the killing on the UK for joining the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In the same video, the group threatens the life of American aid worker Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
November 3, 2014 - The Iraqi government announces ISIS militants have killed 322 members of the Albu Minr tribe in a recent series of executions. According to Sheikh Nabil Al-Ga'oud, a leader in the Albu Minr tribe, the latest of these incidents occurred November 1, in which 75 members of the tribe were killed near the town of Hit ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
November 13, 2014 - An ISIS social media account posts an audio message purportedly recorded by leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The speaker is heard saying the U.S.-led coalition to destroy ISIS is "terrified, weak and powerless." The 17-minute audio says the coalition's effort has been a "failure" and the coalition will be "forced" to "send ground forces to their deaths and destruction." The speaker also urges Islamic State fighters to take their battle everywhere and "light the Earth with fire upon all tyrants," and mentions U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to deploy 1,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq "under the claim they are advisers." CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the online message or when it was recorded ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
November 14, 2014 - The U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria concludes that ISIS has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, and leaders of the militant group should be held accountable by organizations such as the International Criminal Court ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
November 16, 2014 - ISIS militants claim to have beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig in a video published to the Internet. Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, is the fifth Westerner whom ISIS claims to have beheaded via video messages ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
January 22, 2015 - The coalition airstrikes kill thousands of ISIS fighters,including half of the top command of the terror group. The number may be as high as 6,000 or higher, according to U.S. ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones ("ISIS Fast Facts," 2015).
The following image depicts a timeline for the fates of 23 ISIS Hostages in Syria taken from the New York Times; there is also a map of the hostage locations (Yourish, 2015).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ISIS Fast Facts. (2015, February 16). Cable News Network. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/
Yourish, K. (2015, February 10). The Fates of 23 ISIS Hostages in Syria. The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/24/world/middleeast/the-fate-of-23-hostages-in-syria.html?_r=1