The United States’ strike against Islamic State militants in Nigeria at the request of the country’s government has put the spotlight on the group, amid concerns that it is making a comeback after it was defeated by a U.S.-led coalition in the Middle East. President Donald Trump, in a post on Truth Social, claimed the group had been targeting primarily Christians in Nigeria “at levels not seen for many years”. The Sunni Muslim group emerged in Iraq and Syria and quickly created a “caliphate”, declaring its rule over all Muslims and largely displacing al Qaeda.
At the height of its power from 2014-2017 it held swathes of the two countries, ruling over millions of people. It had a base only a 30-minute drive from Baghdad, and also held the city of Sirte on Libya’s Mediterranean coast. On its territory, IS sought to rule like a centralised government, imposing its interpretation of Islamic Sharia law strictly and deploying shocking brutality including public executions and torture.
Its fighters also carried out or inspired attacks in dozens of cities around the world. The caliphate eventually collapsed in Iraq and in Syria after a sustained military campaign by a U.S.-led coalition. After being ousted from its bases in the Syrian city of Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, the group took refuge in the hinterlands of the two fractured countries.
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It retains a significant presence in Syria and Iraq, parts of Africa including the Sahel region, and in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fighters are scattered in autonomous cells, IS leadership is clandestine and its overall size is hard to quantify. estimates a membership of 10,000 in IS heartlands.
Many foreign fighters have joined Islamic State’s Khorasan branch (ISIS-K), named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. In the Philippines, Islamic State affiliates remain active in southern areas, especially Mindanao, where pro-Islamic State militants controlled the city of Marawi in 2017.
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