Rise of the Islamic State and declaration of the caliphate
- Date
- June 2014
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Iraq and Syria
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
In June 2014 the jihadist group ISIL launched a lightning offensive across northern Iraq, capturing the major city of Mosul on 10 June as the Iraqi army collapsed, along with Tikrit and large swathes of territory.
On 29 June the group proclaimed a 'caliphate' spanning parts of Iraq and Syria, renamed itself the Islamic State, and named its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph. Days later he appeared publicly at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul. Born from the remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq and fuelled by the chaos of the Iraq War's aftermath and the Syrian civil war, the Islamic State imposed brutal rule, carried out mass atrocities and genocide against minorities such as the Yazidis, and inspired and directed terrorist attacks worldwide. Its rise prompted a US-led international military coalition, marking a major new phase of the global struggle against jihadist extremism.
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Also relevant
Further reading
The wider story
A History of the Modern Middle East
The go-to survey of the region from the late Ottoman era to the present.
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