ISIS

By kaelyn hall

  • Al-Baghdadi

    Al-Baghdadi was detained for several months in Camp Bucca, which was a U.S.-run prison in southern Iraq. He was released in 2004.

  • death of Al-Zarqawi

    June 7, 2006 - Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike.

  • anouncess creation

    October 2006 - AQI leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri announces the creation of Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), and establishes Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as its leader.

  • al Qaeda in Iraq tries to ignite war

    2006 - Under al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda in Iraq tries to ignite a sectarian war against the majority Shia community.

  • becomes leader

    April 2010 - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes leader of ISI after Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri are killed in a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation.

  • declaration

    April 2013 - ISI declares its absorption of an al Qaeda-backed militant group in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the al-Nusra Front.

  • renouncing ties

    February 3, 2014 - Al Qaeda renounces ties to ISIS after months of infighting between al-Nusra Front and ISIS.

  • ISIS control

    In 2014, ISIS controlled more than 34,000 square miles in Syria and Iraq, from the Mediterranean coast to south of Baghdad.

  • destroying temple

    August 2015 - ISIS destroys antiquities in the historic city of Palmyra in Syria, including the nearly 2,000-year-old Temple of Baalshami.

  • pentagon

    April of 2015, the Pentagon announced that the group had lost about a quarter of its land.