Many college students live in something like a bubble. The combination of classes, papers, exams, and internships leave little time to watch the news. This causes students to sometimes be blissfully unaware of what really is going on in the world. One story that has constantly been in the news is the rise of ISIS in the Middle East. Many students will have heard the acronym ISIS, but don’t actually know much beyond that they are bad people in the Middle East. So what exactly is ISIS? Here are some quick facts to keep you informed.
1) ISIS, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIL- or the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant is an extremist terrorist group that controls areas of northern Syria and Iraq.
2) ISIS’s goal is to establish and expand a caliphate in the Middle East. A Caliphate is an Islamic State, which is lead by a caliph. A caliph is the religious/political leader who is the successor of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
3) The caliph of ISIS is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who originally was a part of Al Quaeda, but broke from that terrorist group once it expanded into Syria in the year 2013.
4) ISIS claims to practice Sunni Islam, which is the most practiced form of Islam in the world. However, many World leaders, both Muslim and non-Muslim claim that nothing about them is Islamic.
5) ISIS has performed atrocities such as mass killings of gays, Christians, and non-Sunni Muslims. They have also beheaded and captured individuals, including American journalists and used videos of their beheadings as propaganda. These actions earned them the title of a terrorist group, and have caused great concern internationally.
6) ISIS receives much of its funding from oil smuggling, ransoms, extortion, and ransoms from kidnappings.
7) There is an international coalition fighting ISIS. Some of the countries that make up the participating coalition are the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and Jordan.
8) The United States has limited its involvement to mostly airstrikes and training, as have most of the coalition allies who have been fighting ISIS.
9) Iran, typically considered an enemy of the United States, has also been fighting against ISIS. Iran is a majority Shi’ite Muslim country. Iran’s decision to get involved is multi-faceted. They both would not like to have a Sunni-controlled state on their border and they would like to protect their fellow Shi’ite Muslims.
10) ISIS has done extensive recruiting outside of Iraq and Syria. Thousands of Muslims have joined ISIS from countries such as Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, France and Russia. Even some Americans have been caught trying to join ISIS. Many of these people have been convinced to join through Internet communication and indoctrination.