TERRORIST GROUPS
Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS)
( AS OF SEPTEMBER 2025 )
OVERVIEW
ISIS is a Salafi-jihadist group that has conducted or inspired thousands of terrorist attacks worldwide, killing and injuring tens of thousands of people. As of 2025, ISIS remains a global enterprise, overseeing at least 15 branches and networks in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East as well as supporters worldwide. ISIS’s most prominent branches and networks are detailed in separate entries on this website.
ISIS grew out of an insurgency in Iraq and Syria, where the group still operates clandestinely. In 2004, a network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi merged with al-Qa‘ida to form ISIS’s predecessor group, al-Qa‘ida in Iraq (AQI), which Zarqawi led until his death in 2006. Now-deceased amir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took over the group in 2010 and expanded its reach into eastern Syria in 2011. In 2013, the group changed its name to ISIS and separated from al-Qa‘ida. In 2014, ISIS declared itself a caliphate and took over vast swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. In 2019, an international coalition retook ISIS’s last overt stronghold in Syria.
OPERATING AREAS
Worldwide, with significant presences in Iraq and Syria as well as Africa and South Asia
MEMBERS
Approximately 8,800 to 13,100 globally, including 1,500 to 3,000 in Iraq and Syria
TACTICS AND TARGETS
ISIS elements use ambushes, IED attacks, kidnappings, military-style assaults, suicide operations, and targeted killings. The group also encourages supporters worldwide to conduct operations in their own countries using readily available weapons. ISIS has deployed operatives from conflict zones to attack civilian targets in Europe, but the group’s capabilities to train and deploy external operatives have been significantly degraded during the past decade. ISIS elements attack local infrastructure as well as aid workers, civilians, defense forces, and government personnel, whom the group perceives as working against ISIS or opposing its interpretation of Islamic law. When ISIS openly controlled territory in Iraq and Syria, the group used sulfur mustard munitions there.
TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US State Department designated AQI, ISIS’s predecessor group, as a foreign terrorist organization in December 2004; the designation carried over to ISIS when it formed in 2013. The Treasury Department has sanctioned several ISIS leaders following their designation as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
KEY LEADERS
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi
Appointed as ISIS’s amir in August 2023
Abu al-Husayn al-Husayni al-Qurayshi [DECEASED]
Appointed as ISIS’s amir in November 2022; was killed in northwest Syria in April 2023
Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi [DECEASED]
a.k.a. Sayf Baghdad
Appointed as ISIS’s amir in March 2022; was killed in southern Syria in November 2022
Amir Muhammad Said Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla [DECEASED]
a.k.a. Hajji ‘Abdallah
Succeeded al-Baghdadi as amir in October 2019; was killed in a US military raid in northwest Syria in February 2022; previously served as deputy amir
Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri [DECEASED]
a.k.a. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Assumed control of the group in 2010 and declared himself caliph in 2014; was killed in a US military raid in northwest Syria in October 2019
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [DECEASED]
Founder and amir of AQI from 2004 until his death in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2006
NOTABLE ATTACKS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA
22 June 2025
Damascus, Syria
ISIS conducts a suicide bombing against a church, killing at least 25 people in the group’s first major attack in Syria after the collapse of the Bashar al-Asad regime.
20-28 January 2022
Hasakah, Syria
ISIS launches an assault on a Syrian Democratic Forces prison holding ISIS fighters. The ensuing eight-day battle kills around 500 people, mostly ISIS members.
19 July 2021
Baghdad, Iraq
ISIS conducts a suicide bombing in a market on the eve of the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 60 others in the group’s last major attack in Baghdad.
16 January 2019
Manbij, Syria
ISIS conducts a suicide bombing outside a restaurant, killing 15 people, including four Americans, in the group’s most recent attack that killed an American in Iraq or Syria.
June 2014
Mosul, Iraq
ISIS captures Mosul and announces the establishment of its self-declared caliphate. The group holds the city until July 2017.
January 2014
Fallujah, Iraq; and Raqqah, Syria
ISIS takes control of Fallujah and Raqqah and designates Raqqah as the group’s capital. ISIS holds Fallujah until July 2016 and Raqqah until October 2017.
NOTABLE ATTACKS GLOBALLY
22 March 2024
Moscow, Russia
ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) operatives attack the Crocus City Hall, killing at least 137 people.
3 January 2024
Kerman, Iran
ISIS-K suicide bombers kill at least 84 people and injure 284 at the burial site of IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani.
26 August 2021
Kabul, Afghanistan
An ISIS-K suicide bomber kills 13 US military members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
21 April 2019
Colombo and Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
ISIS supporters conduct six coordinated attacks on churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing at least 277 people, including five Americans, and injuring more than 500.
28 June 2016
Istanbul, Turkey
ISIS operatives attack Ataturk International Airport, killing 44 people and injuring more than 230.
12 June 2016
Orlando, Florida
An ISIS supporter kills 49 people and injures 53 at a nightclub. The attacker pledges allegiance to ISIS during the attack but does not communicate with ISIS members.
22 March 2016
Brussels, Belgium
ISIS operatives conduct coordinated bombings against a metro station and Zaventem International Airport, killing 32 people and injuring at least 300.
13 November 2015
Paris, France
ISIS operatives conduct coordinated suicide bombing and firearms attacks at a concert venue, several restaurants, and a soccer stadium, killing 130 people and injuring at least 350.