Collaboration with the Islamic State refers to the cooperation and assistance given by governments,
non-state actor
A non-state actor (NSA) are organizations and/or individuals that are not affiliated with, directed by, or funded by any government.
The interests, structure, and influence of NSAs vary widely. For example, among NSAs are non-profit organizations ...
s, and private individuals to the
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
(IS) during the
Syrian Civil War,
Iraqi Civil War, and
Libyan Civil War
Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...
.
Allegations of state support
Israel
The Syrian government and Iranian officials have accused
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the United States government of supporting ISIS by attacking
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramil ...
and the
Syrian Arab Army
" (''Guardians of the Homeland'')
, colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive
* Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki
, anniversaries = August 1st
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Six ...
as well as arming and giving medical attention to the Islamic State. Israel has strenuously denied accusations of providing arms and medical support to Islamic State fighters.
Syria
During the ongoing
Syrian Civil War, President
Bashar al-Assad, the
Syrian government
Government of the Syrian Arab Republic is the union government created by the constitution of Syria where by the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. S ...
have been accused by activists of collusion with ISIL.
Many
Islamist prisoners were released from Syrian prisons during the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econom ...
protests in 2011, which many authors have suggested a indicated strategic attempt to strengthen
jihadist
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
factions over other rebels, and eventually contributed to forging ISIL.
The Syrian government has reportedly paid for the protection of oil pipelines and importation of oil from
Al-Nusra
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
after Al-Nusra’s capture of two major oil pipelines in Banias and Latakia.
and jointly ran a gas plant in
Tabqah using intermediates. The facility supplied electricity to government-held areas, while sources claim government-run power plants supplied Al-Nusra held areas. A report in 2015 suggested that ISIL kept gas flowing to Assad regime-controlled power stations. Furthermore, ISIL allowed grain to pass from
Rojava
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Ma ...
to government-controlled areas at the cost of a 25% levy. In 2017, US and European officials said that oil sales to the Syrian government were ISIL's largest source of revenue.
An unpublished
IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center database analysis showed that only 6% of Syrian government forces attacks were targeted at ISIL from January to November 2014, while in the same period only 13% of all ISIL attacks targeted government forces.
The
has stated that the Syrian government has operatives inside ISIL, as has the leadership of
Ahrar ash-Sham
Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...
.
In 2015, the United States embassy in
Syria stated that the Syrian government was "making air-strikes in support" of an ISIL advance on Syrian opposition positions north of
Aleppo. The president of the
Syrian National Coalition
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces ( ar, الائتلاف الوطني لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السورية), commonly named the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) ( ar, الائتلاف الو ...
, Khaled Koja, accused Assad of acting "as an air force for
SIL
SIL, Sil and sil may refer to:
Organizations
* Servis Industries Limited, Pakistan
* Smithsonian Institution Libraries
* SIL International, formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics
* Apex Silver Mines (former American Stock Exchange ticker symb ...
, with the Defence Minister of the SNC
Salim Idris
Salim Idris ( ar, سلیم ادریس ''Salīm Idrīs'') (born 1958) is the former Chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) of the Syrian National Army, a Syrian armed opposition group. He has a PhD in "electronic radars" and spe ...
stating that approximately 180 Syrian government officers were serving in ISIL and coordinating the group's attacks with the Syrian Army.
In April 2017 report by UK information provider
IHS Markit
IHS Markit Ltd was an information services provider that completed a merger with S&P Global in 2022. Headquartered in London, it was formed in 2016 with the merger of IHS Inc. and Markit Ltd.
History IHS
Information Handling Services (IHS) "was ...
stated that the Islamic State fought Syrian government forces more than any other opponent between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017. According to the report, "43 percent of all Islamic State fighting in Syria was directed against President Assad's forces, 17 against the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the remaining 40 percent involved fighting rival Sunni opposition groups".
Turkey
The Turkish government has been criticised for allowing ISIL to use Turkish territory for logistics and channelling recruits. It has also been accused of selling arms and intelligence to ISIL, as part of its campaign against the
People's Protection Units
The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly- Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democ ...
(YPG).
That ISIL leader
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...
's Syrian hideout was found just a few kilometers away from Turkey also raised suspicions whether Turkey was doing enough against ISIL. Iraqi intelligence officers also claimed that they have observed several journeys by relatives of Al Baghdadi between Syria and Turkey. Turkey denies the allegations of assisting ISIL, pointing to multiple terrorist attacks ISIL has committed against civilians in Turkey, as well as
multiple military confrontations between ISIL and the Turkish government.
The
Kurdistan Democratic Party
The Kurdistan Democratic Party ( ku, Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistanê; پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional G ...
in Iraq similarly deny the claim that Turkey is providing aid to ISIL.
According to an intelligence adviser quoted by
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer.
Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he receive ...
, a "highly classified assessment" carried out by the
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence.
A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and th ...
(DIA) and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and t ...
in 2013 concluded that Turkey had effectively transformed the secret U.S. arms program in support of moderate rebels, who no longer existed, into an indiscriminate program to provide technical and logistical support for
al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
and ISIL.
Saudi Arabia
In June 2014, former Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki
Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice presiden ...
accused the
government of Saudi Arabia
The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the context of a unitary absolute monarchy along Islamic lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consultation among the K ...
of funding ISIL.
The Saudi Arabian government rejected the claims.
Some media outlets, such as
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', and the US-based think tank
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP or TWI, also known simply as The Washington Institute) is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East.
WINE ...
have written about individual Saudi donations to the group and the
Saudi state's decade-long sponsorship of Salafism and Wahhabism around the world, but concluded in 2014 that there was no evidence of direct Saudi state support for ISIL.
In an August 2014 email leaked by
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
, apparently from former US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
to then counselor
John Podesta
John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022. Podesta previously served as White ...
, a memo states that the governments of both Saudi Arabia and Qatar "are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region."
Lebanese former minister
Charbel Wehbe
Charbel Wehbe (; born 15 July 1953 in Aqoura) is a Lebanese politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants in the Cabinet of Hassan Diab from August 3, 2020 up to his resignation on May 19, 2021. He was appointe ...
also accused Saudi Arabia of supporting ISIL.
Qatar
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
has long been accused of acting as a conduit for the flow of funds to ISIL. While there is no proof that the Qatari government is involved in this movement of funds, it has been criticised for not doing enough to stem money sent by private donors in the country. According to some reports, US officials believe that the largest portion of private donations supporting ISIS and al Qaeda-linked groups now comes from Qatar rather than Saudi Arabia.
In August 2014, German minister
Gerd Müller
Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscor ...
accused Qatar of having links to ISIL, stating: "You have to ask who is arming, who is financing ISIS troops. The keyword there is Qatar." Qatari Foreign Minister
Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah
Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah ( ar, خالد بن محمد العطية; born 9 March 1967) is a Qatari politician who was minister of foreign affairs from June 2013 to January 2016. He has been minister of state for defense since January 2016.
...
rejected this statement, saying: "Qatar does not support extremist groups, including
SIL
SIL, Sil and sil may refer to:
Organizations
* Servis Industries Limited, Pakistan
* Smithsonian Institution Libraries
* SIL International, formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics
* Apex Silver Mines (former American Stock Exchange ticker symb ...
in any way. We are repelled by their views, their violent methods and their ambitions."
United States
Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American physician and politician serving as the junior U.S. senator from Kentucky since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is a son of former three-time presidential candidate and 12 ...
, junior U.S. Senator from Kentucky, has accused the U.S. government of indirectly supporting ISIL in the
Syrian Civil War, by arming their allies and fighting their enemies in that country.
The US assisted the
Syrian opposition
The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian govern ...
from 2013 to 2017 to fight both ISIL and the Assad government (see
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
-led
Timber Sycamore
Timber Sycamore was a classified weapons supply and training program run by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and supported by some Arab intelligence services, including Saudi intelligence. Launched in 2012 or 2013, it supplied ...
program); some of the weapons supplied were captured by ISIL.
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
has claimed that
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
"
erethe founder
of ISIS".
Foreign nationals
A United Nations report showed that 25,000 "foreign terrorist fighters" from 100 countries had joined "Islamist" groups, many of them working for ISIL or al-Qaeda. The US-trained commander of
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
's
Interior Ministry
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministr ...
OMON
OMON (russian: ОМОН – Отряд Мобильный Особого Назначения , translit = Otryad Mobil'nyy Osobogo Naznacheniya , translation = Special Purpose Mobile Unit, , previously ru , Отряд Милиции Осо� ...
police special forces,
Gulmurod Khalimov
Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov ( tg, Гулмурод Салимович Ҳалимов) (1975–2017) was a Tajik and Islamist military commander. He was a lieutenant-colonel and commander of the police special forces of the Interior Ministry o ...
, has been raised to the rank of "Minister of War" within the Islamic State.
One of the most prominent commanders of ISIL in Syria,
Abu Omar al-Shishani
Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili ( ka, თარხან ბათირაშვილი; 11 January 1986 – 10 July 2016), known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Omar al-Shishani ( ar, أَبُو عُمَرَ ٱلشِّيشَانِيِّ, ' ...
, served previously as a sergeant in the
Georgian Army
The Defence Forces of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, tr), or Georgian Defence Forces (GDF), are the combined military forces of Georgia, tasked with the defense of the nation's indep ...
before being medically discharged, later imprisoned, becoming radicalized, then fleeing the country.
A 2015 report by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University found 71 individuals charged in the United States with supporting ISIL, 250 travelling or attempting to travel to Syria or Iraq from the United States to join ISIL, and about 900 active domestic ISIL-related investigations.
An October 2016 World Bank study found that "ISIL's foreign fighters are surprisingly well-educated."
Using the fighters' self-reported educational levels, the study concluded that "69% of recruits reported at least a secondary-level education"
of which "a large fraction have gone on to study at university"
and also that "only 15% of recruits left school before high school; less than 2% are illiterate."
The study also found that foreign fighters are often more educated than their countrymen where those "from Europe and in Central Asia have similar levels of education to their countrymen" while those "from the Middle East, North Africa, and South and East Asia are significantly more educated than what is typical in their home nations."
The report notes that its conclusions that terrorism is not driven by poverty and low levels of education which conforms with previous research.
However, the report did find a strong correlation "between a country's male unemployment rate and the propensity of the country to supply foreign fighters".
Many European countries have allowed their citizens that joined ISIL to be prosecuted by Iraq.
Pakistan
Former President of Afghanistan,
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repu ...
accused Pakistan for supporting ISIS during interview with
ANI
Ani ( hy, Անի; grc-gre, Ἄνιον, ''Ánion''; la, Abnicum; tr, Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia.
Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of t ...
that Afghanistan has evidence of Pakistan's support to
ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic language, Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughou ...
. He added that there is no doubt to the above statement.
Pakistan has strenuously denied accusations of providing arms and medical support to Islamic State fighters.
Foreign nationals by country
Australia
In August 2018, Australia stripped the Australian citizenship from five terrorists who had travelled to fight with the Islamic State and barred them from entering Australia again. This was only possible because they had double citizenships because international law stops the measure from being used on individuals with only one citizenship. The five brought the total to six.
Belgium
Up to 2018, an estimated 450 individuals had travelled from Belgium to join the civil war in Syria and Iraq.
Of those, 75 were linked to the
Sharia4Belgium
Sharia4Belgium was a Belgian Islamist organisation which called for Belgium to convert itself into an Islamic state. In February 2015 the group was designated a terrorist organisation by a Belgian judge. By 7 October 2012 the organization was disb ...
network. In July 2018, courts announced that Belgium had no obligation to bring children of Islamic State members to Belgium.
Denmark
In November 2017, Denmark stripped a
Turkish man of his Danish citizenship after having been sentenced for terror offenses related to the Islamic State, which left him with a citizenship of Turkey.
France
Up to 2018, an estimated 1700 individuals had travelled from France to join the civil war in Syria and Iraq.
Germany
Up to 2018, an estimated 940 individuals had travelled from Germany to join the civil war in Syria and Iraq.
India
Up to 2019, about a 100 Indian nationals had joined the IS in Syria and Afghanistan while 155 individuals had been arrested for IS-related connections. Many of these came from the southern Indian state of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...
and also from
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...
and
Maharashtra. These numbers are considered relatively low despite India having the third-largest population of Muslims
s of 2020 The limited involvement of Indian Muslim fighters in calls for
global jihad was also observed during the
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
, and various reasons have been given for this. These include the limited influence of Salafi-Wahabbism in India, inability of IS sympathizers in India to travel to IS controlled territories due to logistical factors and poverty among Indian Muslims, the existing presence of Pakistani militant groups such as
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...
and
Jaish-e-Muhammad
Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000."
Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azhar ...
with which the IS is in open strife, and the opposition of Indian Islamic leadership to such groups (with 70,000
Barelvi
The Barelvi movement ( ur, بَریلوِی, , ), also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement following the Hanafi and Shafi, Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, with str ...
clerics issuing a
fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist ...
condemning IS and similar organisations in 2015).
Netherlands
The
Parliament of Netherlands
The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague.
The Stat ...
voted in 2016 for legislation to strip Dutch citizens who join ISIL or al Qaeda abroad of their citizenship, also if they have not been convicted of any crime. The law can only be applied to individuals with double citizenship. Justice Minister
Ard Van der Steur
Gerard Adriaan "Ard" van der Steur (; born 7 October 1969) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and lawyer.
Early life
Gerard Adriaan van der Steur was born on 7 October 1969 in Haarlem in the ...
stated the legal changes were necessary to stop jihadists from returning to the Netherlands. In September 2017, four jihadists were stripped of their citizenship.
In the 2012 to November 2018 period, more than 310 individuals had travelled from the Netherlands to the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Of those 85 had been killed and 55 returned to the Netherlands. Of the surviving Dutch foreign fighters in the region, 135 are fighters in the conflict zone and three quarters are members of ISIL. The remaining quarter have joined
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
affiliated groups such as
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...
or
Tanzim Hurras al-Deen.
Sweden
Up to 2018, an estimated 300 individuals had travelled from Sweden to join the civil war in Syria.
In March 2018 Kurdish authorities reported they had captured 41 IS supporters with either Swedish citizenship or residence permit in Sweden, of which 5 had key positions in the organisation and one was the head of the ISIL propaganda efforts.
United Kingdom
Cabinet minister
William Hague
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...
stated in 2014 that up to 400 British citizens had joined ISIL. The government instituted a practice where if those who had joined had double citizenships were stripped of their British citizenship to prevent them from arriving back in the UK. By 2017, 150 individuals had been stripped of citizenship and were thus unable to enter the United Kingdom again.
Groups expressing support for ISIL
The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC) has identified 60 jihadist groups in 30 countries that have pledged allegiance to or support for ISIL as of mid-November 2014. That many of these groups were previously affiliated with
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
suggests a shift in global jihadist leadership towards ISIL.
Members of the following groups have declared support for ISIL, either fully or in part:
*
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ba ...
(until 2016)
*
Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia)
Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia ( ar, أنصار الشريعة في تونس, "''Supporters of Islamic Law in Tunisia''") is a radical Islamist group that operates in Tunisia. In 2013, the group was estimated to have roughly 10,000 members. It has b ...
*
Jund al-Khilafah
Under the early Caliphates, a ''jund'' ( ar, جند; plural ''ajnad'', اجناد) was a military division, which became applied to Arab military colonies in the conquered lands and, most notably, to the provinces into which Greater Syria (the Le ...
*
Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem
The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem or simply the Mujahideen Shura Council (also known as the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem, in Arabic: Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen, Magles Shoura al-Mujahedeen, and other names) is an ...
*
Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid
Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid or Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (literally ''Helpers of Tawhid Congregation'', abbreviated as JAT) is a splinter cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States. ...
– (pledged support to ISIL; the majority of the group split off after its leader pledged allegiance to ISIL)
*
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU; uz, Ўзбекистон исломий ҳаракати/Oʻzbekiston islomiy harakati; russian: Исламское движение Узбекистана ) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 ...
*
Jundallah (Pakistan)
Jundallah (, lit. "Soldiers of God") is a militant group associated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The group was commanded by militant Hakimullah Mehsud, the Emir of TTP, until his death on 1 November 2013. Ahmed Marwat is the spokesman o ...
*
Caucasus Emirate
The Caucasus Emirate ( ce, Имарат Кавказ, Imarat Kavkaz, IK; russian: Кавказский эмират, Kavkazskiy emirat), also known as the Caucasian Emirate, Emirate of Caucasus, or Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, was a Jihadist ...
(multiple Caucasus Emirate commanders switched allegiance to ISIL)
*
Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade
*
Khalifa Islamiyah Mindanao
Khalifa Islamiyah Mindanao (KIM) was a dedicated organization that sought to establish an independent state in Mindanao, Philippines. The group was led by an Afghan-trained cleric known as Humam Abdul Najid. It was sometimes described as an umbrel ...
**
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, ''al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah'', meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently abbreviated JI) is a Southeast Asian militant extremist Islamist terrorist group based in Indonesia, which i ...
**
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf (; ar, جماعة أبو سياف; ', ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is ba ...
**
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, is an Islamist militant organization based in Mindanao, the Philippines. It is a smaller player in the overall Moro insurgency in the Phili ...
**
Ansar Khalifa Philippines
*
Islamic Defenders Front
)
, formation =
, dissolved = , () ()
, successor = Islamic Brotherhood Front (Unrecognized)
, status = Banned
, founder = Muhammad Rizieq Shihab
, founding_location = Ciputat, So ...
(FPI): Pledged allegiance and support to ISIL in 2014. Only revealed in 2020 by the government upon its ban.)
In Islamic State territory
Syria
In response to the effort to
take Raqqa by the
Syrian Democratic Forces
, war = the Syrian Civil War
, image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder
, caption = Flag
, active = 10 October 2015 – present
, ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...
, whose main component is the
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
People's Protection Units
The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly- Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democ ...
(YPG), some Syrian Arabs in
Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Rom ...
sided with the Islamic State.
Iraq
Sunni Arabs
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...
in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
have been accused of collaborating with ISIL against
Assyrians
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
, and
Yazidis
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the wester ...
, and
Shias
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
. ISIL marked Christian homes with the letter ''
nūn
Nun is the fourteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Nūn , Hebrew Nun , Aramaic Nun , Syriac Nūn ܢܢ, and Arabic Nūn (in abjadi order). Its numerical value is 50. It is the third letter in Thaana (), pronounced as "noonu ...
'' for ''Naṣārā''
and Shia homes with the letter ''
rāʾ'' for ''
Rāfiḍa'', derogatory terms used to describe Christians and Shias by some Sunni Muslims. Properties were confiscated and given to local ISIL supporters or foreign fighters.
Local Sunnis were reported to have betrayed Yazidis once ISIL arrived, or colluded in advance to lure them into staying put until the ISIL invaded.
57 members of the
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region
, native_name_lang = ar
, colorcode =
, governing_body = Regional Command
, leader1_title = Secretary
, leader1_name = Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed
, headquarters = Baghdad, Iraq
, newspaper = ''Al-Thawra''
, ...
participated in the
massacre of at least 1,566 Shia cadets from the
Iraqi Air Force
The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF or IrAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية العراقية, Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah}) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well ...
on 12 June 2014.
See also
*
Collaborationism
Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory".
The term ''collaborator'' dates to ...
References
{{Military intervention against ISIL