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Organization

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has a detailed structure that encompasses many functions and jurisdictions, according to ISIS documents seized by Iraqi forces and seen by American officials and Hashim Alhashimi, an Iraqi researcher. Many of its leaders are former officers from Saddam Hussein's long-disbanded army who augmented their military training with terrorist techniques during years of fighting American troops. Related article "

Leadership council

Cabinet

Local leaders

Leadership council

Cabinet

Local leaders

Leadership council

Cabinet

Local leaders

Sources: Jasmine Opperman, Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium; Hisham Alhashimi. Photograph by The Associated Press.

Territory

ISIS has rapidly expanded its control over Iraq and Syria by seizing towns and cities near major supply routes, critical infrastructure and border crossings.

ISIS-controlled
places

Areas under
full control

Areas of
recurring attacks

Sparsely populated
areas

ISIS-controlled places

Areas under full control

Areas of recurring attacks

Sparsely populated areas

Sources: Caerus Associates; IHS Jane's; Institute for the Study of War; Soufan Group;

Over the summer, the group pressed deeper into Syria, regaining some territory it had lost to other rebel groups and capturing several government military bases. It is still trying to consolidate its control along the border between Iraq and Syria.

ISIS fighters experienced some setbacks in Iraq, where American airstrikes helped Iraqi and Kurdish forces reclaim the Mosul Dam and the Turkmen city of Amerli.

Financing

Millions of dollars in oil revenue have made ISIS one of the wealthiest terror groups in history. Experts estimate the value of the output from the dozen or so oil fields and refineries under its control in Iraq and Syria at $1 million to $2 million a day. Related article "

Sources: Brookings Doha Center; Caerus Associates; Energy Information Administration; International Energy Agency; Iraq Oil Report; Platts

The group controls many of Syria's eastern oil fields. In July, ISIS fighters took control of the country's largest oil field, Omar, which was producing about 30,000 barrels a day when it was fully functioning. Recently it was producing about a third of that or less.

ISIS expanded its attacks into Iraq's oil-producing areas in June, and an August sweep into the Kurdish region gave it access to more of the country's oil assets. Experts estimate that the Iraqi oil fields under ISIS control may produce 25,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil a day - worth a minimum of $1.2 million in the underground market.

Governing

When it seizes a city, ISIS keeps select services operating while using brute force to impose its vision of a fundamentalist Islamic state. Religious police make sure that shops close during Muslim prayers and that women cover their hair and faces in public. Public spaces are walled off with heavy metal fences topped with the black flags of ISIS. People accused of disobeying the law are punished by public executions or amputations. At the same time, ISIS keeps markets, bakeries and gas stations functioning.

Food distribution near Aleppo.

Food distribution near Aleppo.

Source: ISIS videos posted online

Military

The Central Intelligence Agency believes that ISIS has between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria and estimates that 15,000 of the jihadists are foreign recruits. Related article "

Sources: C.I.A.; Peter Neumann, King's College London; the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence; Soufan Group

The largest blocs of foreign fighters come from nearby Muslim countries, like Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Smaller contingents come from countries as far away and disparate as Belgium, China, Russia and the United States.

Weapons

ISIS has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of weapons and equipment from Iraqi and Syrian military installations. It has also intercepted supplies en route to Syrian rebel groups from foreign governments. Conflict Armament Research, a private firm that investigates arms trafficking, has tracked small arms and rockets used by ISIS that appear to have been provided to other combatants by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Among the weapons that Conflict Armament Research examined were M16 and M4 rifles stamped "Property of U.S. Govt." Such weapons are also in the hands of irregular Shiite forces in Iraq, where the United States provided hundreds of thousands of small arms to supportive forces during its long occupation.

Conflict Armament Research found M79 antitank rockets from the former Yugoslavia that were identical to M79 rockets provided by Saudi Arabia to rebels in Syria.

Sources: Conflict Armament Research; IHS Jane's

Reporting from Iraq and Jordan by TIM ARANGO, SUADAD AL-SALHY, C.J. CHIVERS, BEN HUBBARD, ROD NORDLAND and ALISSA RUBIN

By Gregor Aisch, Joe Burgess, C. J. Chivers, Alicia Parlapiano, Sergio Peçanha, Archie Tse, Derek Watkins and Karen Yourish

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Organization The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has a detailed structure that encompasses many functions and jurisdictions, according to ISIS documents seized by Iraqi forces and seen by American officials and Hashim Alhashimi, an Iraqi researcher. Many of its leaders are former officers from Saddam Hussein's long-disbanded army who augmented their military training with terrorist techniques during years of fighting American troops.

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Global Connections . Religious Militancy | PBS

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Religion can be a potent weapon to mobilize and unite people, and it has been used and misused in this way throughout human history. But religious militancy does not arise in a vacuum. Throughout history, extremist religious movements have been a response to historical circumstances, particularly arising when groups have felt threatened.

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“The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” (U.S. Department of Defense)

“Terrorism constitutes the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective when innocent people are targeted.” (Walter Laqueur)

“Terrorism is defined here as the recurrent use or threatened use of politically motivated and clandestinely organised violence, by a group whose aim is to influence a psychological target in order to make it behave in a way which the group desires.” (C. J. M. Drake)

“The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." (FBI)