Timeline of ISIL-related events (2016)

Timeline

January 2016

* 1 January ISIL fighters mount an attack on the newly recaptured Iraqi city of Ramadi using suicide bombers and VBIEDs. They are repelled by the Iraqi Army operating in conjunction with US-led Coalition air strikes.
* 1 January a lone attacker performed a terror attack in Tel Aviv, killing three and claiming allegiance to the Islamic State before he was hunted down by security forces.
* 2 January ISIL's Sinai Province claims responsibility for a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Sderot the preceding Friday.
* 3 January ISIL releases a video showing the execution of five Syrian men who they allege were British spies. In the video, a masked, British-accented militant, believed to be Siddhartha Dhar, taunts UK Prime Minister David Cameron before shooting the "spies" in the head. The footage later features one of the group's English-speaking child soldiers.
* 3 January Camp Speicher, an Iraqi military base, is attacked by multiple ISIL suicide and car bombers, with a death toll of at least 15 Iraqi military and police personnel.
* 4 January The Libyan oil depot town of Sidra is attacked by ISIL car bombers. Two militiamen guarding the port are killed, and a large oil tank is destroyed.
* 6 January Sky News releases pictures and videos shot inside an ISIL explosives research facility in Raqqa, the group's capital. The largely instructional media show militants recommissioning old heat-seeking missiles and experimenting with remote-controlled car bombs.
* 6 January In an online article, ISIL threatens to attack the Saudi Arabian prisons of al-Ha'ir and Tarfiya. The statement is believed to be in response to a mass execution of Islamist convicts the previous Saturday.
* 7 January Parisian police shoot dead a cleaver-wielding man as he attempts to enter a police station; an ISIL emblem is later found on his person. The incident coincides with the 1st anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
* 7 January The Iraqi military claims that ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was severely wounded in an airstrike several days before.
* 7 January ISIL truck bombs a police training center in the Libyan city of Zliten, killing at least 65 and wounding over 100. The group claims responsibility for the attack several days later.
* 7 January ISIL gunmen attack a busload of Israeli tourists in Giza, Egypt. No casualties are reported.
* 8 January A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania man shoots and severely injures a policeman parked in a patrol car. Upon being arrested and questioned, he cites ISIL ideology as a motivation for his attack.
* 8 January US officials announce an overhaul of the nation's methods of countering ISIL propaganda. Efforts will be made to deliver localized messages more relevant to Muslim populations; English-language material will be discontinued. Additionally, a new counterterrorism task force based at the United States Department of Homeland Security is announced.
* 8 January A Raqqa-based ISIL fighter executes his mother in front of a large crowd. She reportedly disapproved of his allegiance to the group and urged him to leave, which prompted her arrest.
* 8 January A 24-year-old Palestinian American refugee is indicted on federal charges relating to ISIL. Prosecutors allege that he attempted to materially support the group, and also accuse him of lying about his affiliation during his naturalization.
* 8 January ISIL claims responsibility for the stabbing death of a Christian convert in Jhenaidah District, Bangladesh. Local police dispute elements of the group's claim.
* 9 January Two militants believed to belong to ISIL's Sinai Province storm a hotel in the Egyptian resort town of Hurghada. They stab and injure two foreign tourists before being neutralized by police.
* 9 January ISIL's Sinai Province claims responsibility for the killing of two Cairo policemen earlier that day. Both attackers, one a 21-year-old student, are subsequently shot dead by additional police.
* 10 January Three suspects in the murder of an anti-ISIL activist filmmaker are arrested in Gaziantep, Turkey.
* 10 January The Royal Air Force uses Brimstone missiles for the first time against Syrian ISIL targets.
* 11 January ISIL claims responsibility for two bombings near a casino in the Iraqi city of Miqdadiyah.
* 11 January ISIL attacks a shopping center in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad with a car bomb and gunmen. 18 casualties were reported.
* 11 January A 15-year-old Turkish citizen attacks and injures a Jewish teacher with a machete in the French city of Marseille. Prosecutors allege that he stated his actions were committed "in the name of Allah and the Islamic State".
* 12 January A Saudi-born ISIL suicide bomber detonates near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. 11 people, all foreigners, are killed, and 14 are injured.
* 13 January ISIL's Khorasan Province attacks the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. 7 Afghan security personnel are killed, but no casualties or injuries are reported from within the consulate.
* 13 January Militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province attacked Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, killing 9 people and injuring 12 more
* 14 January The United States Department of State officially designates ISIL's Khorasan Province as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The designation imposes financial sanctions on the group.
* 14 January Turkish ground forces mount a major offensive against ISIL positions in retaliation for the earlier suicide bombing.
* 14 January ISIL gunmen and suicide bombers perpetrate the 2016 Jakarta attacks against various targets in Central Jakarta. In total, there were 4 civilian deaths and 24 injuries. 4 belligerents were killed and 3 others were captured by the police.
* 14 January ISIL forces briefly capture a Northern Iraqi Sunni village, but are quickly repelled by the Iraqi army.
* 16 January ISIL militants execute dozens of civilians and pro-Assad fighters in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. Over 400 civilians are reportedly abducted and taken towards Raqqa, ISIL's capital.
* 16 January Malaysian police announce the arrest of a local ISIL member who allegedly planned a suicide attack. He is also suspected of hanging ISIL flags in multiple Malaysian states.
* 16 January The FBI arrests two Woodbridge, Virginia men who allegedly planned to travel abroad to join ISIL.
* 18 January ISIL advances on Syrian regime forces in Deir ez-Zor Province, seeking to consolidate its control over the territory.
* 19 January ISIL announces significant pay cuts for its Syrian fighters. Militants' salaries will be reduced by half, though food allowances remain unaffected.
* 19 January ''Dabiq'' magazine publishes a eulogy for Jihadi John, confirming the high-profile ISIL member's death in a drone strike the previous November.
* 20 January Satellite photography is released that confirms ISIL's demolition of Dair Mar Elia, Iraq's oldest Christian monastery.
* 20 January Defense ministers of the anti-ISIL coalition's leading nations attend a planning conference in Paris, France, vowing to "accelerate and intensify" their military campaign against ISIL. In the meeting, the US asks its partners for greater amounts of special operations support.
* 20 January The Obama administration expands rules of engagement to help the US military more effectively combat ISIL's Afghan presence. The new guidelines permit broader use of airstrikes against suspected ISIL militants in Afghanistan.
* 21 January François Hollande, the President of France, pledges greater French support for anti-ISIL Arab and Kurdish forces.
* 22 January Two Luton men are convicted for their roles in a 2014 pro-ISIL leafleting campaign held on London's Oxford Street.
* 22 January Hafiz Saeed Khan, the emir of ISIL's Khorasan Province, claims in a '' Dabiq'' interview that Kashmiri militants have pledged allegiance to the group.
* 22 January The National Investigation Agency arrests 14 ISIL-linked militants across 4 Indian states.
* 22 January ISIL's Sinai province claims responsibility for a 19 January explosion at a booby-trapped Cairo apartment building that killed 3 civilians and 7 police personnel. A Muslim Brotherhood-linked militant group makes a competing claim of responsibility.
* 23 January ISIL releases a video that features a militant urging the group's followers to recapture Spain, in apparent reference to the historic territory of al-Andalus.
* 23 January At a press conference in Istanbul, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden expresses confidence in joint US-Turkish military action against ISIL should upcoming peace talks with the Assad regime fail. His remarks are made after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu; other topics discussed included joint support for Sunni Arab rebels.
* 23 January Russia and Syrian warplanes launch a wave of airstrikes on ISIL positions in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. Over 70 civilians are reportedly killed.
* 23 January The U.S.-led coalition performs 23 air strikes on ISIL positions across Syria and near Ramadi, Iraq. The strikes are focused on destroying the group's ammunitions and property, as well as denying militants access to tactically significant terrain.
* 23 January ISIL launched suicide attacks in the Kilo 70 area west of Ramadi, and in the Tal Msheheidah east of Ramadi, as well as areas to the north of Ramadi; the ensuing clashes and airstrikes led to the deaths of 62 ISIL militants and 48 Iraqi fighters.
* 23 January The Army launched a full attack west of Kuweires with the intention of linking up with government-held territory at the Sheikh Najjar Industrial District of Aleppo city.
* 24 January Malaysian police announce the arrest of 7 militants who allegedly belonged to a local ISIL cell. The men had reportedly received orders from ISIL in Syria to commit suicide bombings.
* 24 January ISIL releases a video featuring and eulogizing 9 of the 12 November 2015 Paris attackers. The footage depicts them executing several hostages, as well as threatening Western governments and civilians with similar attacks.
* 25 January In an eight-page report, Europol warns of likely attempts at Paris-style attacks elsewhere in Europe. The report speaks of ISIL's "willingness and ��capacity" to carry out subsequent mass-casualty attacks, and cites lone wolves and radicalization in the Syrian refugee diaspora as specific risk factors.
* 25 January A Malaysian ISIL affiliate group publishes a Malay-language video threatening attacks if recent police crackdowns on local ISIL elements continue. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak responds, elaborating that Malaysia is "far from immune" to ISIL-inspired extremism.
* 25 January Turkish police arrest at least 10 Ankara-based ISIL recruiters.
* 25 January Police in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, shoot dead a suspected ISIL recruiter after he resists arrest.
* 25 January At a press conference in Dushanbe, Ramazon Khamroevich Rakhimov, Interior Minister of Tajikistan, claims that over 1,000 Tajik citizens have left to join ISIL.
* 25 January Iraqi security forces discover over 18 corpses at a mass gravesite in Ramadi. The bodies, some of which had been shot or beheaded, are believed to belong to police and civilians killed by ISIL in May 2015.
* 27 January A 20-year-old Kosovar citizen accused of pro-ISIL computer hacking makes his first appearance in a US federal court. He allegedly sent the personal information of over 1,300 US military personnel to an ISIL member, who then proceeded to post the list on Twitter