COMBATTINGTRANSNATIONALTERRORISM,WITHAPARTICULARFOCUSONBOKOHARAMANDTHEISLAMICSTATE

Chairperson:ApurvaSinghaViceChairperson:UpasanaRangarajan

A.BokoHaram

BokoHaram.Ifyou'veheardofthematall,

you probably know them as the ultra-

secretive, yet hyperactive Islamist sect

seemingly bent on murdering Nigerian

Christians and bringing down the young

democracy of Africa's most populous

nation. In the span of little over a year,

they've gone from local oddity tonational

terror.Yetnooneseemstoquiteknowwho

theyareorwhattodoaboutthem.

To help separate myth from reality, the

following is a brief introduction to Boko

Haram.

Origins

BokoHaramisactuallythenicknameinthe

Hausa language for the group officially

known inArabic as "Jama'atuAhlis Sunna

Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad"—the People

Committed to the Propagation of the

Prophet's Teachings and Jihad. Coined by

northernMuslimsandsubsequentlypicked

up by the press, the name Boko Haram

translateslooselyas“Westerneducationis

forbidden” and isderived fromoneof the

chieftenetsoftheteachingsofMuhammad

Yusuf,thegroup'searlyleader,whoclaimed

that western style education (“boko” in

Hausa)andtheholdingofgovernmentjobs

arereligiously forbidden,orharam,under

Islam.

One of a number of youngNigerian clerics

who embraced Saudi Arabia's

Wahhabi/Salafi strain of Islam in the mid-

1990s,YusufcalleduponMuslimstoremove,

by force if necessary, Nigeria's secular

government and replace it with an Islamic

state. Though he remained ambiguous

enough to avoid prosecution for outright

treason,hisaggressiverhetoric,thegrowing

ranks of his followers, and fears—later to

prove well-founded—that the group was

stockpiling weapons soon began to worry

localauthorities.

Afteryearsoftensionandaseriesofminor

incidents, things finally exploded in July

2009 when a group of Yusuf's followers

were stopped by police in the city of

Maiduguri—Boko Haram's traditional

home—as they were on the way to the

cemetery to bury a comrade.The officers,

part of a special operation aimed at

stamping out violence and rampant crime

in northeastern Borno State, demanded

that the young men comply with a law

requiring motorcycle passengers to wear

helmets. They refused and, in the

confrontation that followed, several were

shotandwoundedbypolice.

Yusuf responded by unleashing an armed

uprising, breaking into a prison and

attacking government buildings and police

stations.Fightingquicklyspreadacrossfive

northernstatesandlastedseveraldays.The

response fromthe federalgovernmentwas

severe.Federalsoldiersdeployedtoreinin

thegroupwerefilmedsummarilyexecuting

suspectedmilitantsinthestreets.Yusufwas

killedwhileinpolicecustody.Hisbodywas

discovered stillwearinghandcuffs. In total,

over1,000peoplediedinthefighting.

Boko Haram was subsequently banned by

the government. Its mosques were

demolished, and its surviving members

scatteredandwentunderground.

TheReturn

After a year-long lull, Nigeria's Muslim-

dominatednorthwitnessedadistinctsurge

in violent attacks beginning in mid-2010.

Several churches were bombed on

ChristmasDaythatyearinthecentralcityof

Jos, long a flashpoint of violence between

Christians and Muslims. Militants bombed

partyofficesandassassinatedofficeseekers

seeminglyatwill in therun-up to theApril

2011 national elections. In June, they

managed to detonate a bomb inside the

heavily guarded national police

headquarters, then made international

headlinesinAugustwhenasuicidebomber

plowedanexplosive-ladencarthroughtwo

security barriers and into the lobby of the

United Nations’ offices in Abuja, killing

nearly two dozen people and wounding

another80.Finally,theycappedtheyearby

bombing churches and government

compounds for the second Christmas in

succession.

Meanwhile, thousands of federal troops,

deployed to northeastern Nigeria in early

2011inanefforttodepriveBokoHaramofa

securebase fromwhich tooperate,quickly

found themselves bogged down in a

sustainedinsurgency,completewithsuicide

bombings,hit-and-runattacksandIEDs.

Whatdotheywant?

Here'swherethingsgetcomplicated.

Asallofthishasbeengoingon,BokoHaram

has for themost part kept quiet. So in the

absence of any solid, verifiable demands,

speculatingaboutthegroup'strueaimshas

become a national—if not international—

obsession.

In the choosing of churches as targets for

bombings,many see an attempt to drive a

wedgebetweenChristiansandMuslimsand

perhapspushNigeriaintoacivilwarfueled

onbothsidesbyreligiousextremism.

Someobservers,strugglingtocometogrips

with the dramatic growth in both the

sophistication and frequency of attacks,

have begun to suspect the influences of

external groups bent on opening a new

frontintheGlobalWaronTerror.InAugust

2011,GeneralCarterHam,theheadofthe

U.S. military's Africa Command, claimed

Boko Haram was collaborating with the

Algeria-based Al-Qaeda in the Islamic

Maghreb.AndareportpublishedbytheU.S.

HouseofRepresentativesSubcommitteeon

Counterterrorism and Intelligence in

November 2011 suggested that Boko

Haram may have also forged links with

Somalia’sAl-Shabab.

Others counter that while there is some

anecdotalevidenceofcontactbetweenBoko

Haram and AQIM, the latter's primary

objective has always remained the

overthrowofthegovernmentinAlgeriaand

thereisnoproofofoperationalcoordination.

They point out that links to Al-Shabab—

currently tied up at home simultaneously

battling Ethiopian, Kenyan, and African

Uniontroops—areevenmoretenuous.

Though Muhammad Yusuf advocated the

establishmentofanIslamicstateinNigeria,

hisgrievanceswerealwaysdeeplyrootedin

the local politics of Boko Haram's native

Borno State. Some northern dignitaries

argue that the group is hardly more

ambitioustoday.

In a video posted on YouTube on Jan. 15,

2012, Abubakar Shekau—Yusuf's deputy,

previously believed killed in the 2009

violence—resurfacedtodeliverawarningto

President Goodluck Jonathan and Christian

leaders. Itwas clear fromhismessage that

thegroup'sprimarymotivationremainedits

quest for revenge for the government

crackdown.Earlier,inasecretmeetingwith

former Nigerian president Olusegun

Obasanjo in September 2011, Boko Haram

representatives had asked that the

government withdraw its troops from

Maiduguri, rebuild its destroyed mosques

and pay traditional compensation to the

familiesofthosekilledinthe2009violence.

Hardlythestuffofglobaljihad.

If all of that wasn't convoluted enough

however, there is also a growing belief—

particularly in thenorth—thatmuchof the

current violencehas little or nothing to do

withYusuf'sdisciples.Thistheoryholdsthat

while a small number of nihilist, Islamist

elements certainly exist in the north, Boko

Haramhasbecomelittlemorethanabrand

name, a murky confluence that now also

includes criminal opportunists as well as

disgruntled political bosses and their

henchmen. “Boko Haram has become a

franchise that anyone can buy into. It's

something like a Bermuda Triangle,” said

BornoStateGovernorKashimShettima.

WhatNext?

Publicopinionisdividedoverhowtodeal

withthethreatposedbyBokoHaram.Many

Christians have called for increased

military action to obliterate the uprising.

TheMuslimreligiousandpoliticaleliteon

the other hand have exhorted Jonathan, a

Christian who is wildly unpopular in the

north, to demonstrate that he is the

president of all Nigerians by reaching out

with solutions to the endemic poverty,

neglect, and political and economic

marginalizationtheysayareattherootof

widespread Muslim anger. A successful,

lastingresolutiontothecurrentcrisiswill

likely need to incorporate a little of both

thesestances.

Nigeria is no stranger to armeduprisings,

andyoudon'thave to lookvery far tosee

what works and what doesn't. After

attempting for years to defeat an

insurgency in the oil-rich Niger Delta

through military might alone, the

government finally came to a negotiated

settlementin2009thatprovidedablanket

amnesty,financialsupport,andjobtraining

toanymilitantwillingtohandoverhisgun.

Those who didn't were to be shown no

mercy.Around

26,000 accepted the offer, and violence in

that part of the country has largely

subsided.

Amidthegrowingwaveofviolencein2011,

Jonathandeclaredhisplanstouseasimilar

carrot and stick approach in dealingwith

Boko Haram. However, tracking down

reliable interlocutors has proven

problematic, andwithmany—particularly

inthesoutherndominatedmedia—baying

for blood, so far there's been little carrot

andalotofstick.

Military spending increased over 30

percent last year, as Abuja deployed

thousands of troops to the northeast.And

it'satrendthatlookslikelytocontinue.In

the wake of the Christmas church

bombings,thepresidentplacedlargeparts

ofthenorthunderastateofemergency.He

recentlyclaimedthatBokoHaramelements

had infiltrated all branches of the

government and security services.

Spending on security for 2012 is set to

consumenearly a fifth of the total federal

budget.ButaslongasNigeria'ssecurityand

intelligence services remain hopelessly

stove-piped, with little capacity to mount

coordinated, targeted operations, betting

on the military approach will likely only

result in broadening the kind of heavy-

handed occupation that has already

sparkedviolentresistanceinMaiduguriand

elsewhereinthenorth.

ISIS

WheredidISIScomefrom?

Thegroupbeganin2004asalQaedainIraq,

beforerebrandingasISIStwoyearslater.It

wasanallyof-andhadsimilaritieswith-

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda: both were

radical anti- Western militant groups

devoted to establishing an independent

Islamicstateintheregion.

ButISIS-unlikealQaeda,whichdisowned

thegroupinearly2014-hasproventobe

more brutal and more effective at

controllingterritoryithasseized.

ISIS put governing structures in place to

rule the territories it conquered once the

dust settles on the battlefield. From the

cabinet and the governors to the financial

and legislative bodies, ISIS' bureaucratic

hierarchy looksa lot like thoseofsomeof

the Western countries whose values it

rejects-ifyoutakeawaythedemocracyand

addinacounciltoconsiderwhoshouldbe

beheaded.

WhatistheHistory?

• TherootsoftheIslamicStateof

Iraqandal-Sham

Therootsof ISISgobacktoOct.15,2006,

whenwhatisknownastheIslamicStateof

Iraq

(ISI) was established. That groups was

formed by uniting several groups, most

notably al- Qaeda inMesopotamia, led by

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Mujahedeen

ShuraCouncilinIraq,andJundal-Sahhaba

[SoldiersoftheProphet’sCompanions].

ISI took Baquba, Iraq, as its capital and

sworeallegiancetoAbuOmaral-Baghdadi

asthegroup’semir.Baghdadi’srealnameis

HamedDawoodMohammedKhalilal-Zawi;

hewasbornin1959.Heusedtoworkinthe

Iraqi security corps, then left after he

embracedSalafistideologyin1985.Hewas

one of the most prominent promoters of

Salafistideology.HewasmadeheadofJaish

al-Taefaal-Mansourathensworeallegiance

to al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which later

formed,withothergroups,theMujahedeen

ShuraCouncilinIraq.

After Zarqawi was killed, Baghdadi was

appointedasthatcouncil’semirunderthe

name of Abu Abdullah al-Rashed al-

Baghdadi.HewasthenmadeheadofISI.In

2010, the ISI’s ministry of Sharia matters

announced thatBaghdadihadbeenkilled.

Afterward, theMujahedeen Shura Council

swore allegiance toAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi

asISI’semir.

•ISISspreadstoSyria

AbuBakral-Baghdadiplayedakeyrole in

establishing Jabhat al-Nusra. But he

considered Abu Mohammed al-Golani,

Nusra’sleader,tobehissubordinatewitha

duty toobeyhim.SoBaghdadiannounced

the dissolution of Jabhat al-Nusra and the

integrationofitsmembersintoISI,withthe

new organization being called the Islamic

StateinIraqandal-Sham.

Golanirefusedtheorder,butISISappeared

on the scene with strength anyway. ISIS

quickly announced its areas of operations

publicly and took control of wide areas

withoutfacingmuchresistance,benefitting

from the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters who

defected to ISIS. Some estimates suggest

thatabout65%ofJabhatal-Nusraelements

quickly declared their allegiance to ISIS.

Most of those were non-Syrian jihadists.

Entire brigades joined ISIS, among them

was theMujahedeenShuraCouncil ledby

Abual-Atheer,whomISISappointedemirof

Aleppo, and Jaish al-Muhajireen and al-

Ansar, led by Omar al-Chechani. Those

defections allowed ISIS to take Jabhat al-

Nusra’splaceincontrollingseveralregions

andposts,mostnotably inRaqqa,partsof

theAleppocountryside,andpartsofAleppo

city.Jabhatal-Nusra’slatestwithdrawalwas

from its headquarters at the Children’s

Hospital toward the old transportation

building in Aleppo. ISIS also seized the

headquartersofothergroupsinManbaj,al-

BabandAzaz.Jabhatal-Nusra’ssmallposts

werereplacedbyalargeISISheadquarters.

It shouldbenoted thatuntilnow, ISIShas

not engaged in a physical confrontation

with the Syrian army, but rather fought

battles with the “opposition” armed

factions.“Jihadist”sourcesattributethatto

“ISISbeingatthestageofestablishingand

strengtheningitselfso

that the jihad against the regime happens

onsolidfoundations.”ISISopenedthedoor

for new members without checking the

quality of the new members. ISIS started

paying$200amonth foreach fighter,and

thousands ofmen in ISIS’s area of control

joinedthegroup.

•ThedisputebetweenGolaniand

Baghdadi

A “jihadist” source told As-Safir that the

reasons behind the dispute between the

twomenare“purelyintellectual,”whereby

“Baghdadi’s approach greatly differs from

that of Golani’s. Baghdadi believes in the

necessity of declaring the emirate, or

Islamicstate,immediatelyanddeclaringits

emir as its leader who alone [makes

decisions], and for the mujahedeen to

swearallegiancetothatIslamicstateinthe

territories [it controls], be they Syrian or

non-Syrian, and by not recognizing the

Sharia committee judges who come from

otherIslamicfactions.

ThereshouldbenolawbutISIS’slaw.Also,

allIslamicfactionsshouldswearallegiance

totheISISemirorbeconsideredoutsideof

God’s authority. Military cooperation

happens only with the battalions that

declare exclusive allegiance [to ISIS].And

ISIS preachers (mosque preachers) have

therighttoreplacethelocalpreachersinall

mosques. Moreover, all the spoils and

financial resources belong to the ISIS’s

treasury.Theotherfactions,whetherornot

they are Islamic, have no right to that

money.”

Butanother“jihadist”sourcetoldAs-Safir,

“Thedifferenceinapproachisnothingmore

than an indirect reason. Golani and

Baghdadi were in agreement on the

strategies followed by Jabhat al-Nusra.

Even though Baghdadi was not in full

agreement with [those strategies], he

agreedtotemporarilyadoptthembecause

Golaniheldthat[thosestrategies]wouldbe

moreacceptabletotheSyrianpeople.”

Thesourceadded,“Themaincausebehind

thedisagreementisanoldpersonaldispute

between Golani and Abu Muhammad al-

Adnani, who was identified as the ISIS

spokesman. Then there was news that

BaghdadiappointedhimemirfortheSyrian

branchofISIS.”

On that, the source points to a number of

statements made by Adnani where he

“described Jabhat al-Nusra as defectors

from ISIS.And he accused Golani and his

group of being disobeyers who betrayed

their pledge of allegiance toBaghdadi. On

anotheroccasion,[Adnani]assertedthatall

the reasons for a fight between Jabhat al-

NusraandISISarepresent.”

•ISIS,Jabhatal-Nusraandal-Qaeda

Loyalty to al-Qaeda may be the common

denominator between ISIS and Jabhat al-

Nusra.

ISIShasbeenunderal-Qaeda’sbannersince

ISI was founded and inspired by the

approachofZarqawi,andfromthejihadist

doctrine stipulating “the loyalty of the

branch is from the loyalty of the main

[organization].” Therefore, ISIS’s loyalty is

toal-Qaedaaslongas

[ISIS’s]emirBaghdadi“didn’tinvalidatethe

allegiance”inanopenmanner.Itshouldbe

noted that Baghdadi had refused to

implement thedecisionofal-Qaeda leader

Ayman al- Zawahri to dissolve ISIS while

maintainingJabhatal-NusraandISI intact.

Ontheotherhand,Jabhatal-Nusrapledged

allegiance to Zawahri in response to

Baghdadi’sannouncementaboutdissolving

Jabhat al-Nusra. Golani denounced that

decisionthenextdayanddeclaredthathis

“allegianceisonlytoal-Qaeda’semirAyman

al-Zawahriasthesupremecommander,”in

amovethatapparentlywasintendedtouse

Zawahri in Jabhat al-Nusra’s dispute with

Baghdadi.

ATimeline-2004-2016

2004:AbuMusabalZarqawiestablishesal

QaedainIraq(AQI).

June7,2006:ZarqawiiskilledinaU.S.strike.

AbuAyyubalMasritakeshisplace.

Oct. 15, 2006: al Masri announces the

establishment of the Islamic State in Iraq

(ISI), with Abu Omar al Baghdadi as its

leader.

2007:Following the surgeofU.S. troops in

Iraq,ISIisdrivenfromBaghdadintoDiyala,

Salahideen, and Mosul. The organization

retains only a fraction of its leaders, cells,

and capabilities,which are concentrated in

Mosul.

2008: ISI membership is strongly

diminished. By early 2008, 2,400 ISI

members had been killed and 8,800 were

captured, out of a previousmembership of

15,000.TheflowofforeignfightersintoIraq

decreasesfrom120permonthtofiveorsix

permonthby2009.

2009: Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki targets

Sunnileaders,increasingsectariantensions.

Support for ISI begins to increase in Sunni

tribalareas,andISIclaimsresponsibilityfor

suicide attacks that killed hundreds in

Baghdad.

April 2010:AbuBakralBaghdadibecomes

the leader of ISI after a joint U.S.-Iraqi

operations killsAbuOmar alBaghdadi and

AbuAyyubalMasri.

July 2011: Abu Bakr al Baghdadi sends

operatives to Syria. One of them, Abu

MuhammadalJulani,becomestheleaderof

theNusraFrontinJanuary2012.

July 2012-July 2013: ISI launches its

“BreakingtheWalls”campaign.Itcarriesout

24 bombings and eight prison breaks,

freeingjihadistswhohadparticipatedinAQI

attacksin2006and2007.

2013

March 4: Raqqa falls to the Syrian

opposition, and secular opposition groups,

theNusraFront,andISIarealloperatingin

Raqqa. ISIbeginsmovingmilitaryassets to

consolidate control and break into new

battlefrontsinSyria.

April11:BaghdadimovesfromIraqtoSyria,

andclaimsthattheIslamicStateinIraq(ISI)

merged with the Nusra Front in Syria to

become“TheIslamicStateinIraqandSyria.”

But Julani rejects the alliance and declares

allegiancetoalQaeda.

July21:ISISlaunchesthe“Soldier’sHarvest”

campaign to diminish Iraqi security forces

andcaptureterritory.

August: ISIS begins attacking rebel groups

includingLiwaalTawhid,AhraralSham,and

theNusraFrontinRaqqaandAleppo.

Dec.30:ISISmilitantsinIraqtakecontrolof

FallujahandpartsofRamadi.

2014

January:ISIStakesoverRaqqaanddeclares

it thecapitalof theISISemirate.Feb.3:Al

QaedaofficiallycutstieswithISIS.

June10:ISIStakesoverMosul,launchingits

largest offensive to date. Militants kill at

least600ShiiteinmatesfromtheBadoush

prison during the attack. June 11: ISIS

militantstakeoverTikrit.

June12:IrandeploysforcestofightISISin

Iraq,andhelps Iraqi troopsregaincontrol

ofmostofTikrit.

June 18: Iraq asks the United States to

conductairstrikesagainstISIS.July17:ISIS

storms the Shaer gas field and kills 270

people.

June 21: ISIS seizes the strategic border

crossing between Syria’s Deir Ezzor

province and Iraq, as well as three other

Iraqitowns.

June29:ISISannouncestheestablishment

of a caliphate and rebrands itself as the

“IslamicState.”

Aug. 2-3: ISIS conquers Kurdish towns of

SinjarandZumar,forcingthousandsofYazidi

civilianstofleetheirhomes.

Aug.3:ISIStakescontroloftheMosulDam.

Aug. 7: President Obama announces the

beginningofairstrikesagainstISISinIraqto

defendYazidicitizensstrandedinSinjar.

Aug.19:ISISkillsAmericanjournalistJames

Foley.

Aug.24:ISISmilitantsseizeTaqbaairbasein

Raqqa, Syria. ISIS now controls the entire

Raqqaprovince.

Sept. 2: ISIS releases a video depicting

beheadingof journalistStevenSotloff.Sept.

13: ISIS posts video of the execution of

BritishaidworkerDavidHaines.

Sept. 19-22: ISIS advances on the Syrian

border town of Kobani and thousands of

refugeesfleeintoTurkey.

Sept.22:ISISspokesmanAbuMuhammadal

Adnani calls for attacks on citizens of the

United States, France and other countries

involved in the coalition to destroy the

group.Sept.23:TheUnitedStateslaunches

itsfirstairstrikesagainstISISinSyria.

Sept.24:MilitantsalignedwithISISbehead

aFrenchtourist,HervéGourdel,inAlgeria.

Sept. 27: The United States begins air

strikesonKobani.

Oct.3:MajlisShuraShababalIslam,orthe

Islamic Youth Shura Council, claims the

LibyancityofDernaforISIS.

Oct. 3: ISIS releases a video showing the

beheading of British aid worker Alan

Henning.CNN

Oct. 7-8: The United States significantly

rampsupairstrikes inandaroundKobani

tocounterISISadvances.

Oct.15:ThePentagonnamesthecampaign

against ISIS “Operation Inherent Resolve.”

Nov. 2: Leaders from ISIS and its jihadist

rival, Jabhat al Nusra, meet in Atareb to

discussjoiningforces.Noformalmergeror

cooperation between the groups is

established, but ISIS reportedly sent

fighterstohelptheNusraFront’sassaulton

HarakatHazm,aWestern-backedmoderate

rebelgroup.MilitaryTimes

Dec.16:AgunmanallegedlyactingonISIS's

behalf seizes 17 hostages in a cafe in

Sydney,Australia.

Dec. 30: ISIS takes responsibility for a

suicide attack during a funeral north of

Baghdadthatkilled16peopleandwounded

34others.

2015

Jan. 7: Two gunmen, Saïd and Chérif

Kouachi, attack the offices of French

satiricalnewspaperCharlieHebdoinParis,

killing 11 people.Athird assailant,Amedy

Coulibaly,carriedoutasynchronizedattack

on a kosher supermarket, taking hostages

and killing four people. Coulibaly

reportedly declared allegiance to the

IslamicState.

Jan. 26: Kurdish fighters,with the help of

U.S. and coalition airstrikes, forceout ISIS

militants from the Syrian border town of

Kobaniafterafour-monthbattle.

Jan. 28: Militants allied with ISIS claim

responsibility for an armed assault on a

luxuryhotelintheTripoli,Libyathatkilled

atleasteightpeople.

Feb. 4: ISIS releases a video of Jordanian

military pilot Moaz al Kasasbeh being

burnedalive.

Feb.15–16:LibyanmilitantsalliedtoISIS

releaseavideoshowingthebeheadingof21

Egyptian Christians, who had been

kidnapped on January 12. Egypt launches

airstrikesinLibyainretaliation.

Feb.25-26: ISISmilitantsabductatleast

200 Assyrian Christians in northeastern

Syria. The U.S.-led coalition launches

airstrikesinthesamearea.

March18:ISISclaimsresponsibilityforan

attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis,

whichkilled22people.

March 20: ISIS-linkedmilitants bomb two

mosques in Sanaa, Yemen, killing 137

people. April 5: ISIS militants seize the

Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in

Damascuswheremorethan18,000people

reside.

April8:ISISreleasesmorethan200captive

Yazidis, most of whom had been held

captive in northwestern Iraq since mid-

2014.

April 19: ISIS posts a video showing

militantsfromitsLibyanbranchexecuting

dozensofEthiopianChristians.

May17:ISIStakeoversRamadi,Iraq

May20:ISISseizestheancientSyriancityof

Palmyra.

May 21: ISIS militants take full control of

Sirte, Libya – Muammar Qaddafi's

hometown.

May 22: ISIS claims responsibility for the

suicideattacksonaShiitemosqueineastern

Saudi Arabia, which killed 21 people and

injuredmorethan100.

May 29: ISIS claims responsibility for a

secondsuicidebombingataShiitemosque

ineasternSaudiArabiathatkilled4people.

June 17: ISIS’s Yemeni branch claims

responsibilityforaseriesofcarbombingsin

the Yemeni capital that killed at least 30

people.

June 17: Kurdish fighters expel ISIS from

the strategic Syrian town ofTalAbyad on

theTurkishborder.

June22:Kurdishforcestakefullcontrolof

AinIssa,amilitarybase,fromISISmilitias.

June 26: ISIS fighters kill at least 145

civiliansinanattackonKobani,Syria.The

same day, ISIS-linkedmilitants attacked a

Shiitemosque inKuwait,killing27people

andinjuringmorethan200.

June27:ISISclaimsresponsibilityanattack

on a Tunisian resort in Sousse, where 38

peoplewerekilledand39werewounded-

mostofthemforeigners.

July1:ISISfighterscarryoutsimultaneous

assaultsonmilitarycheckpointsinEgypt’s

northernSinaiPeninsula,killingdozensof

soldiers.

July20:AsuicidebomberwithlinkstoISIS

strikesaculturalcenterinSuruç–aTurkish

bordertownnearKobani-killingatleast30

people.

Aug. 6: ISIS claims responsibility for a

suicidebombingonaSaudiArabianmosque

thatkilledat least15people, including12

members of Saudi police force, in Asir

province, near the south-western border

withYemen.

Aug. 12: ISIS releases 22 Assyrian

Christians of the dozens abducted from

villages in northeastern Syria earlier in

2015.

Sept. 3: ISIS’s Yemeni affiliate kills 20

peopleintwobombingsinSanaa.

Sept. 24: ISIS claims responsibility for two

bombings at a Yemeni mosque run by the

Houthis – a Shiite rebel group that seized

SanaainSeptember2014. Theattackkilled

atleast25people.

Sept.29-Oct.3:GunmenlinkedtoISISkillan

Italian aid worker and veterinarian in

Dhaka, Bangladesh. On October 3, ISIS

claimedresponsibilityforkillingaJapanese

maninnorthernBangladesh.

Sept.30:RussiabeginsairstrikesinSyria.It

claimstotargetISIS,butU.S.officialsallege

thatmanyofthestrikestargetciviliansand

Western-backedrebelgroups.

Oct.6:ISISkillsatleast25peopleinaseries

of car bombings in Yemen’s two largest

cities,AdenandSanaa.

Oct. 9: ISIS makes significant gains in

northwesternSyria,seizingsixvillagesnear

Aleppo.Oct.10-12:TurkishPrimeMinister,

Ahmed Davutoglu, blames ISIS for the

attackatapeacerallyinAnkarathatleftat

least95peopledead.

Oct. 15: Iraqi forces recapture the Baiji

refinery, the largest oil refinery in the

country,fromISIS.

Oct.16:ISIS-linkedmilitantsfromBahrain

claim responsibility for killing five Shiite

worshipers in the eastern Saudi city of

Saihat.

Oct. 22: A member of a U.S. special

operations force is killed during an ISIS

hostage rescuemission in northern Iraq -

thefirstAmericantodieingroundcombat

with ISIS. Twenty ISIS fighters are killed

during the mission, and six more are

detained.

Oct.31:SinaiProvince,Egypt’sISISaffiliate,

claimsresponsibilityforbombingaRussian

passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula,

killingall224onboard.

Nov. 12: ISIS claims responsibility for

suicide attacks in Beirut that killed 40

people.Nov.13:KurdishforcesseizeSinjar,

IraqfromISIS.

Nov. 13: ISIS carries out a series of

coordinated attacks in Paris, killing 130

people. Nov. 15: France ramps up its

airstrikesonISIStargetsinRaqqa,Syria.

Nov.27: ISIS-linkedmilitants carryout an

attack on a Shiite mosque in Bangladesh,

killing a clericand wounding three other

people.

Dec. 1: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter

announces that U.S. special operations

forceswouldbesenttoIraqtosupportIraqi

and Kurdish fighters and launch targeted

operationsinSyria.

Dec.2: Amarriedcoupleallegedlyinspired

by ISIS kills 14 people in SanBernardino,

California.

Dec. 10: U.S. officials announce that

airstrikes killed ISIS finance ministerAbu

Saleh and two other senior leaders in Tal

Afar,Iraq.

Dec.27:IraqimilitaryforcesseizeRamadi

fromISIS.

2016

Jan.12:AsuicidebomberwithlinkstoISIS

kills10peopleandinjured15others-many

of them German tourists - in Istanbul's

SultanahmetSquare.

Jan. 14: ISIS claims responsibility for an

attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, that killed at

leasttwopeopleandinjured19others.

March18:SalahAbdeslam,themostwanted

suspect in theParis attacks, is arrested in

Brussels.

March19:Asuicidebomberkillsfivepeople

and injures dozens of others in Istanbul.

The Turkish Interior Ministry announces

thattheperpetratorhadlinkstoISIS.

March 22: Three explosions at the

Zaventem airport and a metro station in

Brussels kill at least 30 people and injure

dozensofothers.ISISclaimsresponsibility

fortheattacks.

April11:IraqiforcesseizethetownofHit,

which had been under ISIS control since

October

2014.Thesameday,ISISrecapturedRai,a

SyriantownontheTurkishborder,fromthe

Free

SyrianArmy.

May5:ISIScapturestheShaergasfieldnear

Palmyra.

May 12: ISIS claims responsibility for a

seriesofbombings inBaghdadonMay11

thatkilledmorethan100people.

May 19: Iraqi forces retake the western

townofRutbah.

May 23: Iraqi forces, aided by U.S. and

coalition airstrikes, advance on Fallujah,

whichISIShasheldsince2014.

May 24: Kurdish forces backed by U.S.

airstrikes launch an offensive on territory

northofRaqqa,Syria.

June 12:Agunman attacks a popular gay

nightclub inOrlando,Florida, killingmore

thanfourdozenpeopleandinjuringatleast

53.Theattacker,identifiedasOmarMateen,

reportedly called police during the attack

and pledged allegiance to ISIS, who later

claimedresponsibilityfortheattack.

June 26: The Iraqi army retakes Fallujah

fromISIS.

June 27: ISIS claims responsibility for a

suicidecarbombinginMukalla,Yementhat

killedatleast42people.

June28:Threesuicidebomberskillatleast

40peopleattheAtaturkairportinIstanbul.

The

Turkish government suspected that ISIS

wasbehindtheattack.

July 1: ISIS militants kill more than 20

people at a restaurant in Dhaka,

Bangladesh,mostofwhomwereforeigners.

July 3: ISIS militants carry out a suicide

bombingthatkillsmorethan200peopleon

a busy shopping street in Baghdad. The

attack,which occurred during theMuslim

holy month of Ramadan, was ISIS’s

deadliestbombattackoncivilianstodate.

July 4: Suicide bombers attack three

locations in Saudi Arabia, including the

Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, a Shiite

mosqueinQatif,andneartheU.S.consulate

in Jeddah. The attack in Medina killed at

least four people and injured five others.

The attackers were suspected of having

linkstoISIS.

July14:A31-year-oldTunisianmandrives

atruckthroughacrowdinNice,France,and

kills

84people.ISISclaimscreditfortheattack,

thoughitisnotclearwhethertheattacker

hadanyformaltiestothegroup.

July18:AnAfghanteenagercarriesanaxe

ontoaGermancommutertrainandinjures

at least five people. He was reportedly

inspiredbyISIS.

3.UNResolutionsregardingtheAgenda

-ISIS:

1.Resolution2368(2017)

Adopted by the Security Council at

its8007thmeeting,on20July2017

2.Resolution2253(2015)

Adopted by the Security Council at its

7587thmeeting,on17December2015

3.Resolution2249(2015)

Adopted by the Security Council at its

7565thmeeting,on20November2015

4.Resolution2199(2015)

Adopted by the Security Council at its

7379thmeeting,on12February2015

5.Resolution2170(2014)

Adopted by the Security Council at its

7242ndmeeting,on15August2014

-BokoHaram:

1.Resolution2349(2017)

Adopted by the Security Council at its

7911thmeeting,on31March2017.