ISIS

As ISIL's 'caliphate' crumbles, its ideology remains

Al Jazeera

Jun 28, 2017

Three years ago today, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood at the pulpit of Mosul's Grand Al Nuri mosque, which was destroyed last week in fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), and announced the creation of a Sunni caliphate.  While the group proceeded to balloon in size - at its peak it covered territory across Iraq and Syria that is roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom - it has, since January, lost close to 47 percent of its territory, according to Conflict Monitor by IHS Markit, a security and defense observer.    Experts say that despite being seemingly on the brink of military defeat, the group's widespread ideology will be much harder Read More