What is 'Islamic State'?
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.
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.
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.
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".
How much
territory does IS control?
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 byUS-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?
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.
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.
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".
What
weapons does IS have?
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 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.
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.
Why are
their tactics so brutal?
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".
來源:
Why:not even
Where:
Who:
What:
When:
it seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
How:not even
Keywords
- swathes條
- abductions綁架
- coalition聯盟
- vowed發誓
- establishment建立
- accordance按照
- Ibrahim 易卜拉欣
- jihadist聖戰者
- supreme最高
- offshoots 分支
