It all started with a man called Ahmad.
According to the BBC, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL – also known as ISIS) was created in 2013. It’s true that the name first appeared then, but the terrorist organisation has had multiple names before then and origins linked to Afghanistan and Jordan.
I mention Jordan because that was the birthplace of Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh – a member of a desert tribe. He was also imprisoned there in 1994 at the Swaqa prison for possessing illegal weapons. However, he was released in 1999 following an amnesty, despite reports that he was a dangerous figure that ruled his prison ward. You can thank King Abdullah II for that.
What happened next? Well, one of the major events was al-Khalayleh’s appearance in Afghanistan and the creation of Jund al-Sham. It was a terrorist camp/group based in Herat – the third largest city in the country. It was responsible for a number of acts and reportedly had financial links to Al-Qaeda, although these weren’t confirmed. Later, the group left Herat because of war-related disruption. It was around this time that al-Khalayleh left for Iran with 300 Jund al-Sham fighters. After that he moved to Iraq and set up a group called Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (abbreviated as JTJ and also known as Tawhid and Jihad, or Monotheism and Jihad).
Clik here to view.
Courtesy of OpenStreetMap
Why was JTJ created? Well, during his time with Jund al-Sham, he refused multiple Al-Qaeda requests to affiliate. Al-Khalayleh didn’t feel thy were targeting the right people and didn’t feel they (or the Taliban) were committed to the jihad. When he moved to the Iraq/Iran area and set up JTJ, he targeted Israel, Jordan and Shiite Muslims (60%-65% of Muslims in Iraq are Shia). The animosity towards Jordan is understandable, given his imprisonment. The anger towards the Shia Muslims is due to his Salafist faith.
JTJ also had a series of goals:
- Force a withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq
- End the interim government (this existed during the war and prior to the current administration led by Nouri al-Maliki)
- Assassinate collaborators (this meant killing anyone associated with coalition forces)
- Remove the Shia population (this could be called ethnic cleansing or genocide)
- Establish a pure Islamic state, a.k.a. a ‘Caliphate’ (if you have read my posts about Nigeria, you’ll know that Boko Haram are also seeking to achieve this)
Some of JTJ’s more notable activities include the beheading of Nicholas Berg (a US contractor) and British civil engineer Kenneth Bigley.
Not heard of al-Khalayleh? Well, you might not know him by that name. At some point in is life he decided to use a nom de guerre. He called himself Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It was taken from Zarqa – a mining town where he grew up.
The letter
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
There were some changes in 2004. One of them was the name. The group was now known as ‘Tanẓīm Qāʻidat al-Jihād fī Bilād al-Rāfidayn’, which translates to ‘The Organization of Jihad’s Base in the Country of the Two Rivers‘. This is a reference to the fact that the Tigris and Euphrates run through Iraq – part of what used to be called Mesopotamia. More commonly at this stage in their history, they were known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
There was some dispute about the groups links until a video from Osama bin-Laden was posted on December 28th, 2004, praising al-Zarqawi and making him a deputy.
Iraqi Kurds intercepted a letter in 2004. It was sent by al-Zarqawi and meant for Osama bin-Laden. It is very, very long. As a favour to those who don’t have 3 consecutive years of spare time, I have produced the Wordle above, using the text of the letter (which can be found here, if you want to read it all). The dominant words are ‘God’, ‘people’ and ‘Shi’ (meant to be Shi’a). There are also frequent mentions of ‘mujahidin’, ‘Sunni’, ‘Islam’, ‘battle’ and ‘enemy’. Essentially, it’s full of combative and fiery language, designed to underline the commitment to a jihad and form a Caliphate, whilst supporting the work of Al-Qaeda. The following is a quote from the full text:
“You, gracious brothers, are the leaders, guides, and symbolic figures of jihad and battle. We do not see ourselves as fit to challenge you, and we have never striven to achieve glory for ourselves. All that we hope is that we will be the spearhead, the enabling vanguard, and the bridge on which the [Islamic] nation crosses over to the victory that is promised and the tomorrow to which we aspire. This is our vision, and we have explained it. This is our path, and we have made it clear. If you agree with us on it, if you adopt it as a program and road, and if you are convinced of the idea of fighting the sects of apostasy, we will be your readied soldiers, working under your banner, complying with your orders, and indeed swearing fealty to you publicly and in the news media, vexing the infidels and gladdening those who preach the oneness of God. On that day, the believers will rejoice in God’s victory.”
Not exactly light hearted and moderate dialogue, which would appeal to the widest possible base of people. This is all about being serious, highlighting the desperate times and not wanting to appear weak. The opening two sentences of the quote are interesting. Much like some definitions of religion, they want to be part of something bigger than themselves.
I should note that AQI was never an official name. The group was just commonly referred to as that.
From AQI to the MSC
Another year, another name change.
In 2006, the AQI merged with other groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) – essentially an umbrella organisation. This was a short-lived name that went from January until October. However, there were some significant events that happened during that time.
In June of that year, al-Zarqawi died. It was as a result of a US air strike on a safe house in Baquba (near Baghdad), which was done as a result of a tip-off from Jordan (remember, al-Zarqawi didn’t exactly think of them as the happy-fun country – despite being born there).
Different sources state different names for the next leader. It doesn’t help that there are nom de guerres and suggestions that some people didn’t exist (couldn’t help but think of the film ‘The Usual Suspects’ when researching this part of the group’s history). Abu Ayyub al-Masri (also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir), seems to have been the successor to al-Zarqawi as the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. However, it gets confusing when you remember the group’s links to al-Qaeda and membership of the umbrella MSC. There was Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi (also known as Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al Zawi, Abu Omar al-Qurashi al-Baghdadi), who seemed to be an intermediary with Al-Qaeda and the leader of the MSC.
In October, the MSC changed it’s name to something that might be more familiar to you – the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI).
ISI to the present day
The Islamic State in Iraq was the westernised name of Dawlat al-ʻIraq al-Islāmīyah.
al-Baghdadi was the Emir (a form of figurehead). al-Masri was basically the person in charge. Unfortunately for them, they were both killed in an Iraqi-US operation in 2010.
Clik here to view.
Courtesy of OpenStreetMap
The new leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He changed the name to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. This was as a result of the foundation and eventual merger with the Syrian group, Al-Nusra. However, things get complicated when Al-Nusra deny the merger and the leader of Al-Qaeda (Ayman al-Zawahiri) rejected the move, as he was not consulted (a translation of a letter related to this can be found here). In addition, Al-Qaeda has since disavowed any links with ISIL due to violence directed towards other rebel groups, such as Al-Nusra. Despite the rejection of the merger, a large percentage of Al-Nusra forces have since switched to ISIL.
At present, Al-Nusra is the official Al-Qaeda group in Syria.
Finally…
All the recent news about ISIL happened because of the actions of a Jordanian man from a desert tribe several years ago. After several name changes and alterations to the leadership, they have become something huge. They know how to market themselves and are extremely violent. They were even considered too violent for Al-Qaeda.
They are a prime example of a group that can take knock-backs and rebuild. It is entirely possible that they could do this again in the future.
Hopefully nobody attempting to defeat them ever uses the phrase ‘Mission Accomplished’.
Future posts about ISIL will focus on more recent events. I hope you have found this post about their inception useful/interesting.
So, what do you think?