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Isis's Origin can trace its roots back to the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. Matthew Olsen, said Isis controlled much of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin - an area similar in size to the United Kingdom, or about 210,000 sq km (81,000 sq miles). In February 2015, US Director for National Intelligence James Clapper said that Isis could have 20,000 to 32,000 fighters. Isis Fighters have access to a variety of small weapons and mounted guns on trucks

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The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) burst on to the international scene in 2014 when it seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. It has become notorious for its brutality, including mass killings, abductions and beheadings. The group though has attracted support elsewhere in the Muslim world - and a US-led coalition has vowed to destroy it.

What does IS want?

In June 2014, the group formally declared the establishment of a "caliphate" - a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia, by God's deputy on Earth, or caliph.

It has demanded that Muslims across the world swear allegiance to its leader - Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - and migrate to territory under its control.

IS has also told other jihadist groups worldwide that they must accept its supreme authority. Many already have, among them several offshoots of the rival al-Qaeda network.

IS seeks to eradicate obstacles to restoring God's rule on Earth and to defend the Muslim community, or umma, against infidels and apostates.

The group has welcomed the prospect of direct confrontation with the US-led coalition, viewing it as a harbinger of an end-of-times showdown between Muslims and their enemies described in Islamic apocalyptic prophecies.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: Islamic State's driving force What's the appeal of a caliphate?
What are its origins?

IS can trace its roots back to the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. In 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and formed al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which became a major force in the insurgency.

After Zarqawi's death in 2006, AQI created an umbrella organisation, Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). ISI was steadily weakened by the US troop surge and the creation of Sahwa (Awakening) councils by Sunni Arab tribesmen who rejected its brutality.

Baghdadi, a former US detainee, became leader in 2010 and began rebuilding ISI's capabilities. By 2013, it was once again carrying out dozens of attacks a month in Iraq.

It had also joined the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, setting up the al-Nusra Front.

In April 2013, Baghdadi announced the merger of his forces in Iraq and Syria and the creation of "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" (Isis). The leaders of al-Nusra and al-Qaeda rejected the move, but fighters loyal to Baghdadi split from al-Nusra and helped Isis remain in Syria.

At the end of December 2013, Isis shifted its focus back to Iraq and exploited a political stand-off between the Shia-led government and the minority Sunni Arab community. Aided by tribesmen and former Saddam Hussein loyalists, Isis took control of the central city of Falluja.

In June 2014, Isis overran the northern city of Mosul, and then advanced southwards towards Baghdad, massacring its adversaries and threatening to eradicate the country's many ethnic and religious minorities. At the end of the month, after consolidating its hold over dozens of cities and towns, Isis declared the creation of a caliphate and changed its name to "Islamic State".
The rise of 'Islamic State'
How much territory does IS control?

In September 2014, the then director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), Matthew Olsen, said IS controlled much of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin - an area similar in size to the United Kingdom, or about 210,000 sq km (81,000 sq miles).

A year later, the US defence department declared that IS frontlines in much of northern and central Iraq and northern Syria had been pushed back significantly by US-led coalition air strikes and ground operations. IS could no longer operate freely in roughly 20-25% of populated areas in Iraq and Syria where it once could, it said.

The defence department estimated that IS had lost approximately 15,000-20,000 sq km (5,790-7,720 sq miles) of territory in Iraq, or about 30-37% of what it controlled in August 2014, and 2,000-4,000 sq km (770-1,540 sq miles) in Syria, or about 5-10%.

Despite this, IS has been able to capture new territory of strategic value over the same period, including the city of Ramadi in Iraq's Anbar province and Palmyra in Syria's Homs province.

Analysts also note that the US figures do not necessarily reflect the situation on the ground. In reality, IS militants exercise complete control over only a small part of that territory, which includes cities and towns, main roads, oil fields and military facilities.

They enjoy freedom of movement in the largely uninhabited areas outside what the Institute for the Study of War calls "control zones", but they would struggle to defend them.

Similarly, it is not entirely clear how many people are living under full or partial IS control across Syria and Iraq. In March 2015, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross put the figure at more than 10 million.

Inside areas where IS has implemented its strict interpretation of Sharia, women are forced to wear full veils, public beheadings are common and non-Muslims are forced to choose between paying a special tax, converting or death.

How many fighters does it have?

In February 2015, US Director for National Intelligence James Clapper said IS could muster "somewhere in the range between 20,000 and 32,000 fighters" in Iraq and Syria.

But he noted that there had been "substantial attrition" in its ranks since US-led coalition air strikes began in August 2014. In June 2015, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said more than 10,000 IS fighters had been killed.

To help mitigate the manpower losses, IS has turned to conscription in some areas. Iraqi expert Hisham al-Hashimi believes only 30% of the group's fighters are "ideologues", with the remainder joining out of fear or coercion.

A significant number of IS fighters are neither Iraqi nor Syrian. In October 2015, National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas Rasmussen told Congress that the group had attracted more than 28,000 foreign fighters. They included at least 5,000 Westerners, approximately 250 of them Americans, he said.

Studies by the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) and the New York-based Soufan Group suggest that while about a quarter of the foreign fighters are from the West, the majority are from nearby Arab countries, such as Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan and Morocco.

What about its targets outside Iraq and Syria?

In late 2015, IS began to lay claim to attacks outside its territory. An Egyptian affiliate, Sinai Province, said it downed a Russian passenger plane in the Sinai peninsula, killing all 228 on board. It gave no details, but the UK and US later said it was likely that a bomb caused the crash - whether or not a bomber was linked to IS.

IS also claimed twin blasts in the Lebanese capital Beirut which killed at least 41 people. Militants from the Lebanese movement Hezbollah have been fighting in neighbouring Syria on the side of IS' enemy, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

And then on 13 November, at least 128 people were killed in a wave of attacks around Paris. IS said it was behind the violence - French President Francois Hollande described it as "an act of war".
Battle for Iraq and Syria in maps
What weapons does IS have?

IS fighters have access to, and are capable of using, a wide variety of small arms and heavy weapons, including truck-mounted machine-guns, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and portable surface-to-air missile systems.

They have also captured tanks and armoured vehicles from the Syrian and Iraqi armies. Their haul of vehicles from the Iraqi army includes armoured Humvees and bomb-proof trucks originally manufactured for the US military.

Some have been packed with explosives and used to devastating effect in suicide bomb attacks.

The group is believed to have a flexible supply chain that ensures a constant supply of ammunition and small arms for its fighters. Their considerable firepower helped them overrun Kurdish Peshmerga positions in northern Iraq in August 2014 and the Iraqi army in Ramadi in May 2015.

Where does IS get its money from?

The militant group is believed to be the world's wealthiest. It initially relied on wealthy private donors and Islamic charities in the Middle East keen to oust Syria's President Assad. Although such funding is still being used to finance the travel of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq, the group is now largely self-funding.

The US Treasury estimates that in 2014 IS may have earned as much as several million dollars per week, or $100m in total, from the sale of crude oil and refined products to local middlemen, who in turn smuggled them in Turkey and Iran, or sold them to the Syrian government.

But air strikes on oil-related infrastructure are now believed to have diminished such revenue.

Kidnapping also generated at least $20m in ransom payments in 2014, while IS raises several million dollars per month through extorting the millions of people living in areas under its full or partial control, according to the US Treasury.

IS is believed to raise at least several million dollars per month by robbing, looting, and extortion. Payments are extracted from those who pass through, conduct business in, or simply live in IS territory under the auspices or providing services or "protection".

Religious minorities are forced to pay a special tax. IS profits from raiding banks, selling antiquities, and stealing or controlling sales of livestock and crops. Abducted girls and women have meanwhile been sold as sex slaves.
Islamic State: Who supports the jihadist group? Iraq and Syria: The hostages
Why are their tactics so brutal?

IS members are jihadists who adhere to an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam and consider themselves the only true believers. They hold that the rest of the world is made up of unbelievers who seek to destroy Islam, justifying attacks against other Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Beheadings, crucifixions and mass shootings have been used to terrorise their enemies. IS members have justified such atrocities by citing the Koran and Hadith, but Muslims have denounced them.

Even al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who disavowed IS in February 2014 over its actions in Syria, warned Zarqawi in 2005 that such brutality loses "Muslim hearts and minds".
Why is 'Islamic State' so violent? 'Islamic State' deploys asymmetry of fear

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The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) burst on to the international scene in 2014 when it seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. It has become notorious for its brutality, including mass killings, abductions and beheadings. The group though has attracted support elsewhere in the Muslim world - and a US-led coalition has vowed to destroy it.

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More then 1 million residents freed from the brutality and terrorism of ISIS. Isis is willing to put up a fight for Mosul. Isis Used Suicide car bombs as a way of attacking. The battle for Mosul may last weeks or even months, if the operation to retake Ramadi is any indicator.

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battle for mosul begins with gunfire and car bombs - cnn

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Battle for Mosul begins with gunfire, bombs

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Iraqi-led forces got a taste opf what's to come in the first day of an offensive to recapture Mosul.

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Isis is not Al Qaeda. It is not part of the older radical Islamist organization, nor does it represent the next phase in its evolution. Isis is Al Qaeda's successor. Isis represents the post Al Qaeda's jihadist threat.

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After 9/11, many within the U.S. national security establishment worried that, following decades of preparation for confronting conventional enemies, Washington was unready for the challenge posed by an unconventional adversary such as al Qaeda. So over the next decade, the United States built an elaborate bureaucratic structure to fight the jihadist organization, adapting its military and its intelligence and law enforcement agencies to the tasks of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency.

Now, however, a different group, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which also calls itself the Islamic State, has supplanted al Qaeda as the jihadist threat of greatest concern. ISIS' ideology, rhetoric, and long-term goals are similar to al Qaeda's, and the two groups were once formally allied. So many observers assume that the current challenge is simply to refocus Washington's now-formidable counterterrorism apparatus on a new target.

But ISIS is not al Qaeda. It is not an outgrowth or a part of the older radical Islamist organization, nor does it represent the next phase in its evolution. Although al Qaeda remains dangerous-especially its affiliates in North Africa and Yemen-ISIS is its successor. ISIS represents the post-al Qaeda jihadist threat.

In a nationally televised speech last September explaining his plan to "degrade and ultimately destroy" ISIS, U.S. President Barack Obama drew a straight line between the group and al Qaeda and claimed that ISIS is "a terrorist organization, pure and simple." This was mistaken; ISIS hardly fits that description, and indeed, although it uses terrorism as a tactic, it is not really a terrorist organization at all. Terrorist networks, such as al Qaeda, generally have only dozens or hundreds of members, attack civilians, do not hold territory, and cannot directly confront military forces. ISIS, on the other hand, boasts some 30,000 fighters, holds territory in both Iraq and Syria, maintains extensive military capabilities, controls lines of communication, commands infrastructure, funds itself, and engages in sophisticated military operations. If ISIS is purely and simply anything, it

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ISIS may use terrorism as a tactic, but it is not a terrorist organization. Rather, it is a pseudo-state led by a conventional army. So the counterterrorism strategies that were useful against al Qaeda won't work in the fight against ISIS.

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The Battle is excepted to unfold in stages.The troops that have been massing at bases around Mosul will first surround the city and then gradually tighten the circle. It will be let by troops trained by the Americans.The Federal Police and some army units.

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Two weeks into the campaign to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, Iraqi counterterrorism forces have advanced into the city from the east.

1 Heavy fighting was reported from the neighborhood of Karama on Tuesday.

2 Iraqi forces first entered the city through the industrial Gogjali neighborhood.

3 Islamic State militants are attacking Iraqi security forces in Bazwaia, a village that was retaken on Monday.

4 Iraqi Shiite militias have begun an offensive from the Qayyarah military base to take Tal Afar.

5 If the Islamic State loses control of Tal Afar, its connection to Raqqa in Syria will be severed.

6 Turkish advisers and about 3,000 Turkish-backed forces are based out of Zaylkan.

Changes on the Ground in the First Week

Iraqi and Kurdish troops recaptured a number of villages and towns east and south of Mosul in the first week of the operation against the Islamic State, but they remain miles from the city center.

North of Mosul, Kurdish pesh merga forces continue to push through a string of villages near Bashiqa. Iraqi forces, supported by American advisers, pushed the southern front lines to around 10 miles from Mosul as they advanced through the village of Bartella.

Conflicts continue to emerge between Iraq and Turkey, which has insisted on joining the fight for Mosul. Turkey has been maintaining troops in a base northeast of the city, without Iraq's permission, and claims to have been contributing to the campaign by training Kurdish pesh merga forces and Sunni Arab fighters in Iraq, and firing artillery against militants. Iraq's prime minister has denied Turkey's claims.

Inside the City

Islamic State fighters in Mosul are preparing for a showdown with Iraqi forces. According to the Pentagon, the militants have created smoke screens by setting fire to tires and oil to conceal their movements from coalition aircraft.

Residents reported that ISIS was killing suspected spies and had erected sand berms and concrete walls to close off roads.

Operation to Retake Mosul Begins

Iraqi, Kurdish and allied forces began an operation early on Monday to retake Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, from the Islamic State.

In one of the first phases of an operation that could last weeks or months, about 4,000 Kurdish pesh merga troops moved on Monday to retake 10 villages east of the city.

The battle is expected to unfold in stages. The troops that have been massing at bases around Mosul plan to first surround the city and then gradually tighten the circle, cutting off supply routes and isolating the area.

On the first day of the offensive, Iraqi government and Kurdish forces advanced from the south and east, leaving a path for Islamic State fighters to flee west to Syria.

Leaving a corridor open for the militants could help reduce civilian casualties, said Columb Strack, an analyst for IHS Conflict Monitor, a group that has been tracking the events in Iraq and Syria.

"If there is a way of getting them to withdraw and push them to the desert," Mr. Strack said, "why fight them in a built-up area like Mosul?"

An ultimate assault into Mosul will probably be carried out by Iraqi commandos who have been trained by United States Special Forces. Iraq's federal police and some army units could also join the push.

Mosul is split by the Tigris River. Some officials expect the militants to pull back from the eastern side of the city and focus on defending the west bank, where the government center is. The west bank also has many narrow streets, which makes it difficult for tanks and artillery to operate.

The fighting is likely to be fierce. Islamic State militants have created a network of tunnels under Mosul and have planted improvised explosives so densely that they resemble minefields. The insurgents have also dug trenches, filled them with oil and set them ablaze.

The Islamic State's Shrinking Footprint

Area of control, Jan. 2015

Oct. 2016

The Islamic State easily captured Mosul in June 2014, when soldiers of the Iraqi Army, built up with tens of billions of dollars of support from the United States, dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms and ran.

The victory gave the militant group significant momentum as it made a series of lightning advances across Iraq, capturing large portions of the country.

The group has since lost much of its territory, the result of both a ground war to take back key cities and an air campaign to take out important leaders and major sources of revenue. Mosul is perhaps the group's last major stronghold in Iraq.

A Looming Humanitarian Crisis

As many as 1.2 million people could be displaced by the fighting in Mosul, according to the United Nations. About 213,000 people from Mosul, Falluja and Qaiyara now live in refugee camps in northern Iraq.

Another 200,000 people are expected to flee Mosul in the initial stages of the offensive. The United Nations has expanded refugee camps and built several new ones in northern Iraq to handle the influx.

In Debaga, southeast of Mosul, two additional camps were completed in July and August for those fleeing from villages east of the Tigris. The population at the Debaga site has already grown tenfold since its opening last year.

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The Battle for Mosul: Iraqi Forces Enter the City

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Two weeks into the campaign to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, Iraqi counterterrorism forces have advanced into the city from the east. 1 Heavy fighting was reported from the neighborhood of Karama on Tuesday. 2 Iraqi forces first entered the city through the industrial Gogjali neighborhood.

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It says that Isis is a group under Islamic law by God’s deputy on Earth, or caliph. A caliph seen as the successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It has demanded that Muslims across the world swear allegiance to its leader – Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – and migrate to territory under its control.

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(Image: AP)

Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Brussels on both the airport and the Maelbeek metro station in the Belgian capital.

34 people are reported to have died in Brussels, with a further 198 injured on March 22.

It comes around four months after the Paris attacks where co-ordinated suicide bombings and shootings at cafés, bars, a rock concert and a stadium left 130 people dead in the worst terrorist assault on Europe in a decade.

Terrorism expert Shiraz Maher said the attacks "underscore how pointed and significant the threat facing Europe is right now".

He believes that the attacks would have happened regardless of key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam's arrest, and that a terror cell was "primed and ready to go".

"If it turns out to be Islamic State (IS) it would not be retaliation for his arrest. Nobody could have put together a bomb and conceived an attack in three days. It shows the broader network that's sitting in some of these places that's already primed and ready to go."

Following the Paris attacks on November 13, the director of the European Union's police co-ordination organisation warned at the time that the atrocities are "a very serious escalation" of the terror threat in Europe and a statement of intent by IS.

Europol director Rob Wainwright said the attacks were "a clear statement of intent by Isis to export its brutal brand of terrorism to Europe".
Here we explain who ISIS are, what else they are known as and what they want.
Who are ISIS?

ISIS is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. ISIL is the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

They are a Jihadist militant group which emerged from radical Sunni jihadists in Iraq who fought under the banner "al-Qaeda in Iraq".

They were founded in 2004 and grew from an Al-Qaeda linked group but it is thought the two groups have since distanced themselves from each other.

The Guardian notes : "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) is so hardline that it was disavowed by al-Qaida's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri."

In April 2010, present IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became the new head of the group.

He is now one of the world's most notorious men.

The US State Department has a $10m bounty on his head.

Only the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has had a larger reward offered for his capture or death - $25m.

In April 2013, having expanded into Syria joining the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, the group created the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham.

Al-Sham is the historic Arabic name for Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. This area is known in English as the Levant.

In June 2014 the group announced it would be known as Islamic State (IS) and declared itself a caliphate.
SEE ALSO: Cardiff jihadist joins brother on UN sanctions list as UK Government cracks down on Islamic State
What do ISIS want?

ISIS aspires to create a caliphate, a state governed in accordance with Islamic law by God's deputy on Earth, or caliph. A caliph seen as the successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

In June 2014, the group formally declared the establishment of a caliphate.

It has demanded that Muslims across the world swear allegiance to its leader - Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - and migrate to territory under its control.

IS has also told other jihadist groups worldwide that they must accept its supreme authority.

Many already have, among them several offshoots of the rival al-Qaeda network.

IS seeks to eradicate obstacles to restoring God's rule on Earth and to defend the Muslim community, or umma, against infidels and apostates.

The group has welcomed the prospect of direct confrontation with the US-led coalition, viewing it as a harbinger of an end-of-times showdown between Muslims and their enemies described in Islamic apocalyptic prophecies.
SEE ALSO: This is the official Government advice on what to do in Paris-style terror attack
What else are ISIS known as?

You may hear IS referred to as Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL or even Daesh.

Barack Obama calls it ISIL, as does David Cameron.

The BBC - after pressure from various groups who argue that to call it IS (or Islamic State) gives credence to its claim to be a bona-fide, legitimate state - refers to the group in is news bulletins as the 'so-called Islamic State'.

French president Francois Hollande meanwhile refers to IS as Daesh, a derogatory term used by many opponents of the group.
ISIS
The name which was most widely used when the group became well-known in the West, Isis stands for Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (an ill-defined term for part of Syria).

This is the English translation of Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, which is how the group identified itself after shedding its ties with al Qaida. Before it had expanded into Syria, it called itself Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, and was known in English as al Qaida in Iraq.
ISIL
To the relief of the brands, shops and publications which had been using the name "Isis" long before Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had so much as picked up a rocket launcher, a new name soon emerged.

It stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - the Levant is a French-derived name for a broader area of the Middle East stretching from southern Turkey to Egypt.
Islamic State
As the group became more ambitious in its hopes for a worldwide caliphate, it dropped the references to Syria and Iraq in 2014.

Its new name is ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah, which in English is simply Islamic State, or IS. Muslims and others have objected to the use of this name, saying that the group is neither legitimately Islamic nor a legitimate state.
Daesh
This is an increasingly popular term, if only because the group hates it and has banned it, because it is reminiscent of the Arabic words Daes ("one who crushes something underfoot") and Dahes ("one who sows discord").

It comes from the Arabic acronym for the group's previous name, ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah fi 'l-'Iraq wa-sh-Sham.

Daesh satisfies people who object to Islamic State, but does not solve the problem. Shashank Joshi, of the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think tank, says the use of the word Daesh is little more than "virtue-signalling".

Saying that he favours "Isil - to keep up with the US", Mr Joshi said: "I think the whole debate is rather superficial but I can understand why there is a move towards Daesh."Daesh is fine but I think it will confuse a lot of people."
SEE ALSO: What is the current terrorism threat level in the UK and what does it mean?
How much territory does IS control?

In September 2014, the then director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), Matthew Olsen, said IS controlled much of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin - an area similar in size to the United Kingdom, or about 210,000 sq km (81,000 sq miles).

However, these figures do not necessarily reflect the situation on the ground.

In reality, IS militants exercise complete control over only a small part of that territory, which includes cities and towns, main roads, oil fields and military facilities.
MORE: Anonymous want to train you to hack and help fight ISIS online
They enjoy freedom of movement in the largely uninhabited areas outside what the Institute for the Study of War calls "control zones", but they would struggle to defend them.

Similarly, it is not entirely clear how many people are living under full or partial IS control across Syria and Iraq. In March 2015, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross put the figure at more than 10 million.

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Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Brussels on both the airport and the Maelbeek metro station in the Belgian capital. 34 people are reported to have died in Brussels, with a further 198 injured on March 22.