Islamic State

The Islamic State, at times known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and also referred to by its Arabic-language acronym Daesh, is an Islamist militant jihadist group and former unrecognized quasi-state that follows a Salafi jihadist doctrine based on the Sunni branch of Islam. It was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999 and gained global prominence in 2014, when it drove Iraqi security forces out of key cities during the Anbar campaign, which was followed by its capture of Mosul and the Sinjar massacre.