ISIS

ISIS, also known as ISIL or Daesh, is an Islamic terrorist group.

Although it is sometimes characterized as an "off-shoot" of al Qaeda it was started by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. Zarqawi's group had been operating in Iraq, for years prior to the America lead invasion of 2003. It transitioned from attacking the Saddam Hussein regime to attacking the occupying forces of the American lead coalition.

Zarqawi agreed to swear fealty to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda's leader, and his originization was renamed Al Qaeda in Iraq. But his loyalty and obedience to Osama bin Laden was limited because of the need to keep Osama bin Laden and his leadership cadre in hiding. Letters from al Qaeda central cautioned Zarqawi to be less brutal and reckless of the lives of civilian bystanders.

One reason for the conflict was the differing backgrounds of the two men. Osama bin Laden was University educated, and became radicalized due to his particular strain of devotion. Zarqawi had been juvenile delinquent, who did not complete school, who became radicalized in prison.

In 2011 Wikileaks, an organization devoted to truth, published a large block of formerly secret US diplomatic documents about the USA's relations with totalitarian regimes in the Middle East. Citizens of those countries were able to read surprising secrets about what their governments were really doing. This is said to have been the primary trigger for the Arab Spring. Several of the Middle East's totalitarian regimes were overthrown, or agreed to reforms. Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown, in Libya. And the al-Assad regime faced a complicated civil war that lasted for over a decade.

The organization founded by Zarqawi, that had been known as a branch of al Qaeda, played an increasingly large role in that civil war. They fought progressive elements that wanted to replace the al-Assad regime with a modern, non-totalitarian regime.

Meanwhile the deeply conservative, deeply racist organization renamed itself as the "Islamic State in Syria". The acronym for ISIS in the Arabic language is Daesh.

ISIS occupied territory, starting in 2014, and continuing until 2019.