The Philippines is one of the state opponents of the militant group,

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIL), more commonly referred to by the local media as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIL maintains operations in the Philippines through local jihadist groups - Maute group,

Abu Sayyaf Abu Sayyaf (; , ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, was a Jihadist militant and piracy, pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It was based in and around Jolo and B ...

, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Ansar Khalifa Philippines. They follow the school of thought of

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī (1703–1792) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymo ...

or commonly known as

Wahhabism Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to oth ...

. The groups pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014 or the following years. ISIL has been linked to increased suicide bombings by Filipino nationals in 2018 and 2019, a method which has been rarely carried out in the Philippines and the few successfully carried out done by foreigners. They were suspected to be involved in the 2018 Lamitan, 2019 Jolo Cathedral and Indanan bombings.

Main events timeline

2014

On July 23, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon pledged allegiance to ISIL through a video posted on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. This is an indication of ISIL presence in the Philippines.

2015

In April, the Wahhabi Maute group pledged allegiance to ISIL along with the Ansar Khalifa Philippines terrorist organization, vowing to provide support for each other. The Maute Group was a strong manifestation of the rise of family terrorism in the Philippines. On November 16, When the APEC Summit was to be held in Manila, a video of men in masks with ISIL black flag behind them is posted on Facebook, claiming "ISIL in Mindanao" will attack the summit.

2017

May 23 A video discovered on a cellphone seized by AFP during a raid on a safe house in Marawi shows militants including Hapilon and Maute brothers were planning attack on

Marawi Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao language, Maranao: ''Bandar a Marawi''; ; Jawi script, Jawi ''(Batang Arab)'': ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the ...

. The attack was the 4th step for them to gain the approval of the ISIL leadership,"''requires the conduct of widespread atrocities and uprisings all across Mindanao.''" June 1 Eight foreign militants had been killed in Marawi, five of which they have identified as

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i and a Chechen. ; October 16 Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute was reportedly killed. October 19 The Malaysian terrorist Mahmud Ahmad who helped finance the Marawi siege and recruit foreign fighters was killed.

2023

September 21 Three farmers were killed in a gun attack in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. December 3 ISIS claimed responsibility for the Mindanao State University bombing.

2024

April 19 Philippine forces killed an Islamic State militant, who had been implicated in past beheadings, including of 10 Filipino marines and two kidnapped Vietnamese, in a clash in the south. December 17 Three members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) were killed in an ambush in Basilan province, authorities said Tuesday.

ISIL's support

In March 2016, training manuals, bandanas with ISIL inscriptions and other documents for militants under the ISIL were recovered after the military captured a Maute group camp, indicating that the group may be trying to link up with ISIL. On June 21, 2016, ISIL released a video entitled "The Solid Structure" recognized Abu Sayyaf leader Hapilon as the mujahid authorized to lead the jihadists in the Philippines, and designated him as the

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

for

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The video also urged aspiring members who can't go to the Middle East to fight for ISIL in the Philippines instead. In August 2017, another video released by ISIL asks would-be fighters to go to the Philippines, especially the Marawi City where militants were

under siege ''Under Siege'' is a 1992 action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and written by J. F. Lawton. It stars Steven Seagal (who also produced the film), Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, and Erika Eleniak. Seagal plays Casey Ryback, a former ...

of the government forces.

Filipino members of ISIL

Involvement of Filipino citizens in ISIL has been reported as early as 2014. According to the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' citing undisclosed Kurdish sources that a Filipino national was among the ISIL members who appeared in a beheading video of American aid worker Peter Kassig and 18 Syrian soldiers uploaded in

. The Philippine military said that the report could not be verified and said that there was no ISIL recruitment in the Philippines at that time. The Department of Foreign Affairs during this time has been receiving unverified reports of Filipinos training to fight for ISIL in Syria. In June 2016, ISIL released a video where three of its members, a Filipino, an Indonesian and a Malaysian urged aspiring members who can't go to the Middle East to fight for ISIL in the Philippines instead. In January 2017, Rappler reports that the Filipino member was identified as Mohammad Reza Kiram, a 21-year old who was the first verified member in ISIL fighting in Syria.

Non-state opponents of ISIL in the Philippines

Aside from the Philippine government, ISIL and its affiliate groups in the Philippines has received armed opposition from other local groups in the country. *

Moro Islamic Liberation Front The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; ) is an Islamist group based in Mindanao, Philippines, which sought an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, t ...

Moro National Liberation Front The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF; ) is a political organization in the Philippines that was founded in 1972. It started as a splinter group of the Muslim Independence Movement. The MNLF was the organization most active in the Moro conf ...

Related clashes

The following are the list of battle and clashes involving the jihadist groups since they respectively pledged allegiance to ISIS: * January 2015

Mamasapano clash The Mamasapano clash was a shootout that took place during a police operation by the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25, 2015, in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, then-undivided Maguindanao (which is now ...

* 2016 Butig clashes * April 2016 Battle of Tipo-Tipo * Summer 2016 Sulu and Basilan Clashes * January 2017 Kidapawan jail siege (suspected involvement) * May 2017 Bohol clashes * May 2017

Battle of Marawi The siege of Marawi (), also known as the Marawi crisis () and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Government of the Philippines, Philippine government Arme ...

Related terrorist incidents

* 2014 Bukidnon bus bombing (suspected involvement of BIFF) * 2016 Davao City bombing (suspected involvement of Maute Group) * 2018 Isulan bombings (suspected involvement of BIFF) * 2018 Lamitan bombing (suspected involvement of

) * 2023 Mindanao State University bombing (Maute Involvement)

Public opinion on ISIL

In a poll conducted between February 16 to May 8, 2017, the

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...

says that 70% among the Filipinos questioned view ISIL as a major threat to the Philippines ahead of global climate change (65%) and cyberattacks (64%).

Casualties

The chart below gives the information of casualties since the jihadist groups respectively pledged allegiance to ISIS. Note: Some casualties from small-scale conflicts or terrorist incidents are not given.

References

{{portal bar, Philippines Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Philippines Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by country