The records show that the Islamic State

ISIS members captured by the FSA have claimed that they were directed to commit attacks by Syrian government operatives.

Rand Paul, the junior Senator from Kentucky, accused the US government of allying with ISIL in the Syrian Civil War by arming their allies and fighting their enemies in that country.⁵¹⁹⁵²⁰   LENOVO AEQA1STU010 laptop keyboard

Abu Yusaf, a commander of the ISIL, said in August 2014 that many of the Free Syrian Army members who had been trained by United States' and Turkish and Arab military officers were now actually joining ISIL.⁵²¹ In September 2014, some US-backed Syrian rebels and ISIL signed a "non-aggression" agreement.A UN report estimated a total of 15,000 fighters from over 80 countries in ISIL's ranks as of November 2014.⁵² Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard

⁴ US intelligence estimated an increase to around 20,000 foreign fighters in February 2015, including 3,400 from Western countries.Statistics gathered by nation indicate up to: 3,000 from Tunisia,⁵²⁶⁵²⁷ 2,500 from Saudi Arabia,⁵²⁶⁵²⁷ 1,700 from Russia,⁵²⁸1,500 from Jordan,⁵²⁷ 1,500 from Morocco,⁵²⁷ 1,200 from France,⁵²⁷ 1,000 from Turkey,⁵²⁹ 900 from Lebanon,⁵²⁷COMPAQ Presario CQ40-133TU laptop keyboard

650 from Germany,⁵³⁰ 600 from the United Kingdom,⁵²⁶⁵²⁷ 600 from Libya,⁵²⁷ 500 from Uzbekistan,⁵²⁷ 500 from Pakistan,⁵²⁷ 440 from Belgium,⁵²⁷ 360 from Turkmenistan,⁵²⁷ 360 from Egypt,⁵²⁷ 350 from Serbia,⁵³¹ 330 from Bosnia,⁵²⁷ 300 from China,⁵³² 300 from Kosovo,⁵³³ 300 from Sweden,⁵³⁴ 250 from Australia,⁵³⁵ 250 from Kazakhstan,⁵²⁷ Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard

250 from the Netherlands,⁵²⁷ 200 from Austria,⁵³⁶ 200 from Algeria,⁵²⁷ 190 from Tajikistan,⁵²⁷ 180 from the United States,⁵²⁵ 150 from Norway,⁵³⁷ 150 from Denmark,⁵²⁷ 140 from Albania,⁵³¹ 130 from Canada,⁵³⁸ 120 from Israel/Palestine,⁵²⁷ 110 from Yemen,⁵²⁷ 100 from Sudan,⁵²⁷ 100 from Kyrgyzstan,⁵²⁷ 100 from Spain,⁵³⁹ 80 from Italy,⁵²⁷ HP Mini 110-3519la laptop keyboard

70 from Somalia,⁵²⁷ 70 from Kuwait,⁵²⁷ 70 from Finland,⁵²⁷ 50 from Ukraine,⁵²⁷ 40 from Switzerland,⁵²⁷ 30 from Ireland,⁵²⁷ and 18 from India.ISIL relies mostly on captured weapons. Major sources are Saddam Hussein's Iraqi stockpiles from the 2003–11 Iraq insurgency⁵⁴¹ and weapons from government and opposition forces fighting in the Syrian Civil War and during the post-US withdrawal Iraqi insurgency. HP COMPAQ 486654-001 laptop keyboard

The captured weapons, including armour, guns, surface-to-air missiles, and even some aircraft, enabled rapid territorial growth and facilitated the capture of additional equipment.

The group has a long history of using truck and car bombs, suicide bombers, and IEDs, and has used chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria. TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5357 laptop keyboard

ISIL captured nuclear materials from Mosul University in July 2014, but is unlikely to be able to turn them into weapons.ISIL is known for its extensive and effective use of propaganda.⁵⁴⁵⁵⁴⁶ It uses a version of the Muslim Black Standard flag and developed an emblem which has clear symbolic meaning in the Muslim world.⁵⁴⁷SONY N860-7676-T101 laptop keyboard

In November 2006, shortly after the group's rebranding as the "Islamic State of Iraq", the group established the al-Furqan Institute for Media Production, which produces CDs, DVDs, posters, pamphlets, and web-related propaganda products.⁵⁴⁸ ISIL's main media outlet is the I'tisaam Media Foundation,⁵⁴⁹ which was formed in March 2013 and distributes through the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF).⁵⁵⁰ DELL E141395 laptop keyboard

When ISIL announced it's expansion to other countries in November 2014 it established media departments for the new branches, and it's media apparatus ensured that the new branches follow the same models it uses in Iraq and Syria.In 2014, ISIL established the al-Hayat Media Centre, which targets a Western audience and produces material in English, German, Russian and French.⁵HP 518965-001 laptop keyboard

Also in 2014, ISIL launched the Ajnad Media Foundation, which releases jihadist audio chants.⁵⁵⁴ In December 2014, FBI Director James Comey stated that ISIL's "propaganda is unusually slick. They are broadcasting... in something like 23 languages".From July 2014, al-Hayat began publishing a digital magazine called Dabiq, in a number of different languages including English. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard

According to the magazine, its name is taken from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria, which is mentioned in a hadith aboutArmageddon.ISIL's use of social media has been described by one expert as "probably more sophisticated than that of most US companies".⁵⁴⁵⁵⁵⁷ It regularly takes advantage of social media, particularly Twitter, to distribute its message by organising hashtag campaigns, encouraging Tweets on popular hashtags, LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 laptop keyboard

and utilising software applications that enable ISIL propaganda to be distributed automatically via its supporters' accounts.⁵⁵⁸⁵⁵⁹ Another comment is that "ISIS puts more emphasis on social media than other jihadi groups... They have a very coordinated social media presence."⁵⁶⁰ In August 2014, Twitter administrators shut down a number of accounts associated with ISIL. DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard

ISIL recreated and publicised new accounts the next day, which were also shut down by Twitter administrators.⁵⁶¹ The group has attempted to branch out into alternative social media sites, such as Quitter, Friendica and Diaspora; Quitter and Friendica, however, almost immediately worked to remove ISIL's presence from their sites.⁵⁶²HP Mini 1151NR laptop keyboard

In a switch from its former practices, ISIL's media arm imposed a social media blackout on 27 September 2014, fearing that tweets and posts would give away military positions.⁵⁶³ ISIL has also attempted to present a more "rational argument" in its series of "press release/discussions" performed by hostage/captive John Cantlie and posted on YouTube.  SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard

In one "Cantlie presentation", various current and former US officials were quoted, such as US PresidentBarack Obama and former CIA Officer Michael Scheuer.

In 2014, the RAND Corporation carried out a study of 200 documents — personal letters, expense reports and membership rosters — which had been captured fromIslamic State of Iraq (al-Qaeda in Iraq).⁵⁶⁵ HP Pavilion DV7-3078nr laptop keyboard

It found that from 2005 until 2010, outside donations amounted to only 5% of the group's operating budgets, with the rest being raised within Iraq.⁵⁶⁵ In the time period studied, cells were required to send up to 20% of the income generated from kidnapping, extortion rackets and other activities to the next level of the group's leadership. Higher-ranking commanders would then redistribute the funds to provincial or local cells that were in difficulties or needed money to conduct attacks.⁵⁶Toshiba Satellite L550-20W CPU Fan

⁵ The records show that the Islamic State of Iraq was dependent on members from Mosul for cash, which the leadership used to provide additional funds to struggling militants in Diyala, Salahuddin and Baghdad.⁵⁶⁵

In mid-2014, Iraqi intelligence obtained information from an ISIL operative which revealed that the organisation had assets worth US$2 billion,⁵⁶⁶ making it the richest jihadist group in the world.⁵⁶⁷ SONY Vaio VPC-EB3E1R/BQ CPU Fan

About three-quarters of this sum is said to be represented by assets seized after the group captured Mosul in June 2014; this includes possibly up to US$429 million looted from Mosul's central bank, along with additional millions and a large quantity of gold bullion stolen from a number of other banks in Mosul.⁵⁶⁸⁵⁶⁹ However, doubt was later cast on whether ISIL was able to retrieve anywhere near that sum from the central bank,⁵⁷⁰ and even on whether the bank robberies had actually occurred.⁵⁷¹Dell Precision M4500 CPU Fan

Exporting oil from oilfields captured by ISIL brings in tens of millions of dollars.¹⁷⁹⁵⁷² One US Treasury official has estimated that ISIL earns US$1 million a day from the export of oil. Much of the oil is sold illegally in Turkey.⁵⁷³ Dubai-based energy analysts have put the combined oil revenue from ISIL's Iraqi-Syrian production as high as US$3 million per day.⁵⁷⁴ ISIL also extracts wealth through taxation and extortion.⁵⁷³HP G71-340US CPU Fan

Today, the majority of the group's funding comes from the production and sale of energy. It controls around 300 oil wells in Iraq alone. At its peak, it operated 350 oil wells in Iraq, but lost 45 to foreign airstrikes. It has captured 60% of Syria's total production capacity. About one fifth of its total capacity is in operation. ISIL earned US$2.5 million a day by selling 50,000–60,000 barrels of oil daily.⁵⁷³⁵⁷⁵Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7016 CPU Fan

Foreign sales rely on a long-standing black market to export via Turkey. Many of the smugglers and corrupt Turkish border guards who helped Saddam Hussein to evade sanctions are helping ISIL to export oil and import cash.^575576577 Energy sales include selling electric power from captured power plants in northern Syria; some of this electricity is reportedly sold back to the Syrian government.⁵⁷⁸HP Pavilion dv5-2135dx CPU Fan

Sales of artifacts may be the second largest source of funding for ISIL, according to an article in Newsweek. More than a third of Iraq's important sites are under ISIL's control. It looted the 9th century BC grand palace of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II at Kalhu. Tablets, manuscripts and cuneiforms were sold, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  HP Envy 17-3000er CPU Fan

Stolen artefacts are smuggled into Turkey and Jordan. Abdulamir al-Hamdani, an archaeologist from SUNY Stony Brook, has said that ISIL is "looting... the very roots of humanity, artifacts from the oldest civilizations in the world".The group routinely practices extortion, by demanding money from truck drivers and threatening to blow up businesses, for example.  HP Envy 17 Series CPU Fan

Robbing banks and gold shops has been another source of income.²⁴⁷ The Iraq government indirectly finances ISIS, as they continue to pay the salaries of the thousands of government employees who continue to work in areas controlled by ISIS, which then confiscates as much as half of those Iraqi government employees' pay.

ISIL is widely reported as receiving funding from private donors in the Gulf states,⁵⁸HP 532614-001 CPU Fan

and the governments of Iraq and Iran have repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of financing and supporting the group. Ahead of the conference of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition held in Paris in September 2014, France's foreign minister acknowledged that a number of countries at the table had "very probably" financed ISIL's advances.⁵⁸²

Although Iran and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding the group,⁵HP Envy 17-3000er CPU Fan

there is reportedly no evidence that this is the case.^123586587588 However, according to The Atlantic, ISIL may have been a major part of Saudi Arabian Bandar bin Sultan's covert-ops strategy in Syria.⁵⁸⁹

Unregistered charity organisations are used as fronts to pass funds to ISIL. As they use aliases on Facebook'sWhatsApp and Kik, the individuals and organisations are untraceable.  HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan

Donations transferred to fund ISIL's operations are disguised as "humanitarian charity". Saudi Arabia has imposed a blanket ban on unauthorised donations destined for Syria as the only means of stopping such funding.⁵⁷⁵

Since 2012, ISIL has produced annual reports giving numerical information on its operations, somewhat in the style of corporate reports, seemingly in a bid to encourage potential donors.⁵⁴⁵⁵⁹⁰HP 493001-001 CPU Fan

On 11 November 2014, ISIL announced its intent to mint its own gold, silver, and copper coins, based on the coinage used by the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century. Following the announcement, the group began buying up gold, silver, and copper in markets throughout northern and western Iraq, according to precious metal traders in the area. Toshiba BFB0605HA CPU Fan

Members of the group also reportedly began stripping the insulation off electrical power cables to obtain the copper wiring.⁵⁹¹⁵⁹² The announcement included designs of the proposed coins, which displayed imagery including a map of the world, a sword and shield, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a crescent moon. Economics experts, such as Professor Steven H. HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca CPU Fan

Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, were sceptical of the plans.⁵⁹²⁵⁹³ See also Modern gold dinar. Toshiba Satellite A110-101 CPU Fan,HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca CPU Fan,HP 535442-001 CPU Fan

By 2014, ISIL was increasingly

By 2014, ISIL was increasingly being viewed as a militia rather than as a terrorist group.⁴⁰⁸ As major Iraqi cities fell to ISIL in June 2014, Jessica Lewis, a former US army intelligence officer at the Institute for the Study of War, described ISIL as "not a terrorism problem anymore", but rather "an army on the move in Iraq and Syria, and they are taking terrain. They have shadow governments in and around Baghdad, and they have an aspirational goal to govern. HP Pavilion DV8310CA Laptop Keyboard

I don't know whether they want to control Baghdad, or if they want to destroy the functions of the Iraqi state, but either way the outcome will be disastrous for Iraq." Lewis has called ISIL "an advanced military leadership". She said, "They have incredible command and control and they have a sophisticated reporting mechanism from the field that can relay tactics and directives up and down the line.  Lenovo 0A62039 Laptop Keyboard

They are well-financed, and they have big sources of manpower, not just the foreign fighters, but also prisoner escapees."⁴⁰⁸

While officials^which? fear that ISIL may either inspire attacks in the United States by sympathisers or by those returning after joining ISIL, US intelligence agencies find there is no immediate threat or specific plots. DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard

Former US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sees an "imminent threat to every interest we have", but former top counterterrorism adviser Daniel Benjamin has derided such alarmist talk as a "farce" that panics the public.Some news commentators, such as international newspaper columnist Gwynne Dyer,⁴¹⁰ and samples of American public opinion, such as surveys by NPR,have advocated a strong but measured response to ISIL's recent provocative acts.  TOSHIBA Mini NB 505-SP0160 Laptop Keyboard

Conspiracy theorists in the Arab world have advanced rumours that the US is secretly behind the existence and emboldening of ISIL, as part of an attempt to further destabilise the Middle East. After such rumours became widespread, the US embassy in Lebanon issued an official statement denying the allegations, calling them a complete fabrication.⁴¹²  Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 Laptop Keyboard

Others^which? are convinced that ISIL leader al-Baghdadi is an Israeli Mossad agent and actor called Simon Elliot. The rumours claim that NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal this connection. Snowden's lawyer has called the story "a hoax."ISIL's expanding claims to territory have brought it into armed conflict with many governments, militias and other armed groups.  HP G61-400SP Laptop Keyboard

International rejection of ISIL as a terrorist entity and rejection of its claim to even exist have placed it in conflict with countries around the world.Turkey has been accused of supporting or colluding with ISIL, especially by Syrian Kurds. According to journalist Patrick Cockburn, there is "strong evidence for a degree of collaboration" between the Turkish intelligence services and ISIL, although the "exact nature of the relationship ... remains cloudy".⁴COMPAQ Presario CQ40-133TU Laptop Keyboard

⁹³David L. Phillips of Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights, who compiled a list of allegations and claims accusing Turkey of assisting ISIL, writes that these allegations "range from military cooperation and weapons transfers to logistical support, financial assistance, and the provision of medical services".⁴⁹⁴HP 317443-001 Laptop Keyboard

Several ISIL fighters and commanders have claimed Turkey supports ISIL.^495496497 Within Turkey itself, ISIL is believed to have caused increasing political polarisation between secularists and Islamists.⁴⁹⁸

Turkey has been further criticised for allowing individuals from outside the region to enter its territory and join ISIL in Syria.⁴⁹⁹⁵⁰⁰ HP HDX18-1200 CTO Laptop Keyboard

With many Islamist fighters passing through Turkey to fight in Syria, Turkey has been accused of becoming a transit country for such fighters and has been labelled the "Gateway to Jihad".⁵⁰¹ Turkish border patrol officers are reported to have deliberately overlooked those entering Syria upon the payment of a small bribe.⁵⁰¹ A report by Sky News exposed documents showing that passports of foreign Islamists wanting to join ISIL by crossing into Syria had been stamped by the Turkish government.⁵⁰² DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard

An ISIL commander stated that "most of the fighters who joined us in the beginning of the war came via Turkey, and so did our equipment and supplies",⁴⁹⁷⁵⁰³ adding that ISIL fighters received treatment in Turkish hospitals.

Although Saudi Arabia's government rejected these claims,⁵⁰⁴ the Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki accused Saudi Arabia of funding ISIL.⁵⁰⁵ SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard

Some media outlets likeNBC, BBC, and The New York Times and the US-based think tank Washington Institute for Near East Policy have written of individual Saudi donations to the group, and the Saudi state's decade long sponsorship of Salafism around the world, but have concluded that there is no evidence of direct Saudi state support for ISIL.  Lenovo 45N2141 laptop keyboard

During the Syrian Civil War, multiple parties in the conflict have accused the Syrian government of collusion with Isil to some degree. Several sources have claimed that Isil prisoners were strategically released from Syrian prisons at the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.⁵¹¹ The Syrian government has bought oil directly from ISIS,⁵¹²HP Pavilion dv6-2133ee laptop keyboard

and in March 2015 a European Union report brought to light that the Syrian government and ISIL jointly run a HESCO gas plant in Tabqa, central Syria; the facility continues to supply government-held areas, and electricity continues to be supplied to ISIL-held areas from government-run power plants.⁵¹³HP COMPAQ NX6320 laptop keyboard

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that the Syrian government has tactically avoided Isis forces in order to weaken moderate opposition such as the Free Syrian Army,⁵¹⁴ as well as "even purposely ceding some territory to them ISIS in order to make them more of a problem so he can make the argument that he is somehow the protector against them".⁵¹⁵ ASUS X85S laptop keyboard

A IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center database analysis confirmed that only 6% of Syrian government forces attacks were targeted at ISIL in Jan 1–Nov 21, 2014, while in the same period only 13% of all ISIS attacks targeted government forces.⁵¹⁰ The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has stated that the Syrian government has operatives inside ISIS,⁵¹⁶ as has the leadership ofAhrar ash-Sham.⁵¹ASUS X53S laptop keyboard

⁷ ISIS members captured by the FSA have claimed that they were directed to commit attacks by Syrian government operatives.

Rand Paul, the junior Senator from Kentucky, accused the US government of allying with ISIL in the Syrian Civil War by arming their allies and fighting their enemies in that country.⁵¹⁹⁵²⁰   LENOVO AEQA1STU010 laptop keyboard

Abu Yusaf, a commander of the ISIL, said in August 2014 that many of the Free Syrian Army members who had been trained by United States' and Turkish and Arab military officers were now actually joining ISIL.⁵²¹ In September 2014, some US-backed Syrian rebels and ISIL signed a "non-aggression" agreement.A UN report estimated a total of 15,000 fighters from over 80 countries in ISIL's ranks as of November 2014.⁵² Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard

⁴ US intelligence estimated an increase to around 20,000 foreign fighters in February 2015, including 3,400 from Western countries.Statistics gathered by nation indicate up to: 3,000 from Tunisia,⁵²⁶⁵²⁷ 2,500 from Saudi Arabia,⁵²⁶⁵²⁷ 1,700 from Russia,⁵²⁸1,500 from Jordan,⁵²⁷ 1,500 from Morocco,⁵²⁷ 1,200 from France,⁵²⁷ 1,000 from Turkey,⁵²⁹ 900 from Lebanon,⁵²⁷COMPAQ Presario CQ40-133TU laptop keyboard

650 from Germany,⁵³⁰ 600 from the United Kingdom,⁵²⁶⁵²⁷ 600 from Libya,⁵²⁷ 500 from Uzbekistan,⁵²⁷ 500 from Pakistan,⁵²⁷ 440 from Belgium,⁵²⁷ 360 from Turkmenistan,⁵²⁷ 360 from Egypt,⁵²⁷ 350 from Serbia,⁵³¹ 330 from Bosnia,⁵²⁷ 300 from China,⁵³² 300 from Kosovo,⁵³³ 300 from Sweden,⁵³⁴ 250 from Australia,⁵³⁵ 250 from Kazakhstan,⁵²⁷ Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard

250 from the Netherlands,⁵²⁷ 200 from Austria,⁵³⁶ 200 from Algeria,⁵²⁷ 190 from Tajikistan,⁵²⁷ 180 from the United States,⁵²⁵ 150 from Norway,⁵³⁷ 150 from Denmark,⁵²⁷ 140 from Albania,⁵³¹ 130 from Canada,⁵³⁸ 120 from Israel/Palestine,⁵²⁷ 110 from Yemen,⁵²⁷ 100 from Sudan,⁵²⁷ 100 from Kyrgyzstan,⁵²⁷ 100 from Spain,⁵³⁹ 80 from Italy,⁵²⁷ HP Mini 110-3519la laptop keyboard

70 from Somalia,⁵²⁷ 70 from Kuwait,⁵²⁷ 70 from Finland,⁵²⁷ 50 from Ukraine,⁵²⁷ 40 from Switzerland,⁵²⁷ 30 from Ireland,⁵²⁷ and 18 from India.ISIL relies mostly on captured weapons. Major sources are Saddam Hussein's Iraqi stockpiles from the 2003–11 Iraq insurgency⁵⁴¹ and weapons from government and opposition forces fighting in the Syrian Civil War and during the post-US withdrawal Iraqi insurgency. HP COMPAQ 486654-001 laptop keyboard

The captured weapons, including armour, guns, surface-to-air missiles, and even some aircraft, enabled rapid territorial growth and facilitated the capture of additional equipment.

The group has a long history of using truck and car bombs, suicide bombers, and IEDs, and has used chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria. TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5357 laptop keyboard

ISIL captured nuclear materials from Mosul University in July 2014, but is unlikely to be able to turn them into weapons.ISIL is known for its extensive and effective use of propaganda.⁵⁴⁵⁵⁴⁶ It uses a version of the Muslim Black Standard flag and developed an emblem which has clear symbolic meaning in the Muslim world.⁵⁴⁷SONY N860-7676-T101 laptop keyboard

In November 2006, shortly after the group's rebranding as the "Islamic State of Iraq", the group established the al-Furqan Institute for Media Production, which produces CDs, DVDs, posters, pamphlets, and web-related propaganda products.⁵⁴⁸ ISIL's main media outlet is the I'tisaam Media Foundation,⁵⁴⁹ which was formed in March 2013 and distributes through the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF).⁵⁵⁰ DELL E141395 laptop keyboard

When ISIL announced it's expansion to other countries in November 2014 it established media departments for the new branches, and it's media apparatus ensured that the new branches follow the same models it uses in Iraq and Syria.In 2014, ISIL established the al-Hayat Media Centre, which targets a Western audience and produces material in English, German, Russian and French.⁵HP 518965-001 laptop keyboard

Also in 2014, ISIL launched the Ajnad Media Foundation, which releases jihadist audio chants.⁵⁵⁴ In December 2014, FBI Director James Comey stated that ISIL's "propaganda is unusually slick. They are broadcasting... in something like 23 languages".From July 2014, al-Hayat began publishing a digital magazine called Dabiq, in a number of different languages including English. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard

According to the magazine, its name is taken from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria, which is mentioned in a hadith aboutArmageddon.ISIL's use of social media has been described by one expert as "probably more sophisticated than that of most US companies".⁵⁴⁵⁵⁵⁷ It regularly takes advantage of social media, particularly Twitter, to distribute its message by organising hashtag campaigns, encouraging Tweets on popular hashtags, LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 laptop keyboard

and utilising software applications that enable ISIL propaganda to be distributed automatically via its supporters' accounts.⁵⁵⁸⁵⁵⁹ Another comment is that "ISIS puts more emphasis on social media than other jihadi groups... They have a very coordinated social media presence."⁵⁶⁰ In August 2014, Twitter administrators shut down a number of accounts associated with ISIL. DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard

ISIL recreated and publicised new accounts the next day, which were also shut down by Twitter administrators.⁵⁶¹ The group has attempted to branch out into alternative social media sites, such as Quitter, Friendica and Diaspora; Quitter and Friendica, however, almost immediately worked to remove ISIL's presence from their sites.⁵⁶²HP Mini 1151NR laptop keyboard

In a switch from its former practices, ISIL's media arm imposed a social media blackout on 27 September 2014, fearing that tweets and posts would give away military positions.⁵⁶³ ISIL has also attempted to present a more "rational argument" in its series of "press release/discussions" performed by hostage/captive John Cantlie and posted on YouTube.  SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard

In one "Cantlie presentation", various current and former US officials were quoted, such as US PresidentBarack Obama and former CIA Officer Michael Scheuer.

In 2014, the RAND Corporation carried out a study of 200 documents — personal letters, expense reports and membership rosters — which had been captured fromIslamic State of Iraq (al-Qaeda in Iraq).⁵⁶⁵ HP Pavilion DV7-3078nr laptop keyboard

It found that from 2005 until 2010, outside donations amounted to only 5% of the group's operating budgets, with the rest being raised within Iraq.⁵⁶⁵ In the time period studied, cells were required to send up to 20% of the income generated from kidnapping, extortion rackets and other activities to the next level of the group's leadership. Higher-ranking commanders would then redistribute the funds to provincial or local cells that were in difficulties or needed money to conduct attacks.⁵⁶Toshiba Satellite L550-20W CPU Fan

In December 2013, two suicide bombers stormed

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In December 2013, two suicide bombers stormed the headquarters of TV station Salaheddin and killed five journalists, after accusing the station of "distorting the image of Iraq's Sunni community". Reporters Without Borders reported that on 7 September 2014, ISIL seized and on 11 October publicly beheaded Raad al-Azzawi, a TV Salaheddin cameraman from the village of Samra, east of Tikrit.³⁵⁵ SONY VAIO PCG-6Q1L CPU Fan

As of October 2014, according to the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, ISIL is holding nine journalists and has nine others under close observation in Mosul and Salahuddin province.³⁵⁴HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard

During 2013 and part of 2014, an ISIL unit nicknamed the Beatles acquired and held 12 Western journalists hostage, along with aid workers and other foreign hostages, totalling 23 or 24 known hostages. DELL Latitude D830 Laptop Keyboard

A Polish journalist Marcin Suder was captured in July 2013 but escaped four months later.³⁵⁶ The unit executed American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and released beheading videos. Eight of the other journalists were released for ransom: Danish journalist Daniel Rye Ottosen, HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard

French journalists Didier François, Edouard Elias, Nicolas Hénin, and Pierre Torres, and Spanish journalists Marc Marginedas, Javier Espinosa, and Ricardo García Vilanova. HP 576835-001 Laptop Keyboard

The unit continues to hold hostage British journalist John Cantlie and a female aid worker.³⁵⁷

Cyber-security group the Citizen Lab released a report finding a possible link between ISIL and a digital attack on the Syrian citizen media group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RSS). Supporters of the media group received an emailed link to an image of supposed airstrikes, ^{HP Mini 110-3135dx Laptop Keyboard}

but clicking on the link introduced malware to the user's computer that sends details of the user's IP address and system each time it restarts. That information has been enough to allow ISIL to locate RSS supporters. "The group has been targeted for kidnappings, house raids, and at least one alleged targeted killing. At the time of that writing, ISIL was allegedly holding several citizen journalists in Raqqa," according to the Citizen Lab report. DELL PK130801B00 Laptop Keyboard

On 8 January 2015, ISIL members in Libya claimed to have executed Tunisian journalists Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari who disappeared in September 2014.³⁵⁹Also in January 2015, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto Jogo was captured after travelling to Raqqah and displayed on video with another Japanese citizen with a demand for $200 million ransom. DELL F484C Laptop Keyboard

An unknown number of Syrians and Iraqis, several Lebanese soldiers, at least ten Kurds, two American journalists, one American and two British aid workers, and three Libyans have been beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL uses beheadings to intimidate local populations and has released a series of propaganda videos aimed at Western countries.³⁶⁰ French Macaron Pillow,Creative Cushion - Matty's

They also engage in public and mass executions, sometimes forcing prisoners to dig their own graves before shooting lines of prisoners and pushing them in.³⁶¹³⁶² ISIL was reported to have beheaded about 100 foreign fighters as deserters who tried to leaveRaqqa.UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova has warned that ISIL is destroying Iraq's cultural heritage, in what she has called "cultural cleansing". "SONY VAIO PCG-71111M battery

We don't have time to lose because extremists are trying to erase the identity, because they know that if there is no identity, there is no memory, there is no history", she said. Referring to the ancient cultures of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities, she said, "This is a way to destroy identity. You deprive them of their culture, you deprive them of their history, their heritage, and that is why it goes hand in hand with genocide. SONY VAIO PCG-21211M battery

Along with the physical persecution they want to eliminate – to delete – the memory of these different cultures. ... we think this is appalling, and this is not acceptable."³⁶⁴ Saad Eskander, head of Iraq's National Archives said, "For the first time you have cultural cleansing... For the Yazidis, religion is oral, nothing is written. By destroying their places of worship ... you are killing cultural memory. It is the same with the Christians – it really is a threat beyond belief."SONY VAIO PCG-21212M battery

To finance its activities, ISIL is stealing artefacts from Syria³⁶⁶ and Iraq and sending them to Europe to be sold. It is estimated that ISIL raises US$200 million a year from cultural looting. UNESCO has asked for United Nations Security Councilcontrols on the sale of antiquities, similar to those imposed after the 2003 Iraq War. SONY VAIO PCG-21212V battery

UNESCO is working with Interpol, national customs authorities, museums, and major auction houses in attempts to prevent looted items from being sold.³⁶⁵ ISIL occupied Mosul Museum, the second most important museum in Iraq, as it was about to reopen after years of rebuilding following the Iraq War, saying that the statues were against Islam and threatening to destroy the museum's contents.³⁶⁷³⁶⁸SONY VAIO PCG-21213V battery

ISIL considers worshipping at graves tantamount to idolatry, and seeks to purify the community of unbelievers. It has used bulldozers to crush buildings and archaeological sites.³⁶⁸ Bernard Haykel has described al-Baghdadi's creed as "a kind of untamed Wahhabism", saying, "For Al Qaeda, violence is a means to an ends; for ISIS, it is an end in itself".¹⁷⁰ SONY VAIO PCG-21214V battery

The destruction by ISIL in July 2014 of the tomb and shrine of the prophet Yunus—Jonah in Christianity—the 13th-century mosque of Imam Yahya Abu al-Qassimin, the 14th-century shrine of prophet Jerjis—St George to Christians—and the attempted destruction of the Hadba minaret at the 12th-century Great Mosque of Al-Nuri have been described as "an unchecked outburst of extreme Wahhabism".³⁶⁹Sony VAIO PCG-31111M battery

"There were explosions that destroyed buildings dating back to the Assyrian era", said National Museum of Iraq director Qais Rashid, referring to the destruction of the shrine of Yunus. He cited another case where "Daesh (ISIL) gathered over 1,500 manuscripts from convents and other holy places and burnt all of them in the middle of the city square".³⁷⁰ Sony VAIO PCG-31311M battery

In March 2015, ISIL reportedly bulldozed the 13th-century BC Assyrian city of Nimrud, believing its sculptures to be idolatrous. UNESCO head Irina Bokova deemed this to be a war crime.³⁷¹

There is also the fear that warfare waged on any side will harm cultural heritage. "The worst thing about wars is that they do not distinguish between the past and the future", SONY VAIO PCG-81212M battery

Mosul calligrapher and conservationist Abdallah Ismail told a local correspondent for the German-funded publication Niqash.org. He suggested that ISIL was "taking the pulse" of the local population to see how it would react to their appetite for destruction. Philippe Lalliot, France's ambassador to UNESCO gave this perspective: "When people die in their tens of thousands, must we be concerned about cultural cleansing? Sony VAIO PCG-41112L battery

Yes, definitely yes ... It's because culture is a powerful incentive for dialogue that the most extreme and the most fanatical groups strive to annihilate it."³⁷⁰ According to the London Charter and several Hague Conventions, the deliberate destruction of historical sites and places of worship, unless such destruction is a necessity during war, is a war crime. SONY VAIO PCG-6Q1L CPU Fan

According to media reports, ISIL has established a system for harvesting and selling human organs from fighters, captives, and hostages, including minority children in Mosul and other areas. ISIL is using imported teams of doctors who are not allowed to interact with local medical staff.

ISIL has received severe criticism from other Muslims, especially religious scholars and theologians. SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard

In late August 2014, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh, condemned the Islamic State and al-Qaeda saying, "Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims".³⁷⁷ DELL Latitude D830 Laptop Keyboard

In late September 2014, 126 Sunni imams and Islamic scholars—primarily Sufi³⁷⁸—from around the Muslim world signed an open letter to the Islamic State's leader al-Baghdadi, explicitly rejecting and refuting his group's interpretations of Islamic scriptures, the Qur'an and hadith, used by it to justify its actions.³⁷⁹³⁸⁰ "You have misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder ... HP 576835-001 Laptop Keyboard

this is a great wrong and an offence to Islam, to Muslims and to the entire world", the letter states.³⁸¹ It rebukes the Islamic State for its killing of prisoners, describing the killings as "heinous war crimes" and its persecution of the Yazidis of Iraq as "abominable". Referring to the "self-described 'Islamic State'", HP Mini 110-3135dx Laptop Keyboard

the letter censures the group for carrying out killings and acts of brutality under the guise of jihad—holy struggle—saying that its "sacrifice" without legitimate cause, goals and intention "is not jihad at all, but rather, warmongering and criminality".³⁸¹³⁸² It also accuses the group of instigating fitna—sedition—by instituting slavery under its rule in contravention of theanti-slavery consensus of the Islamic scholarly community.³⁸¹ DELL PK130801B00 Laptop Keyboard

Other scholars have described the group as not Sunnis, but Khawarij.

The group's declaration of a caliphate has been criticised and its legitimacy disputed by Middle Eastern governments, other jihadist groups,³⁸⁴ and Sunni Muslim theologians and historians. Qatar-based TV broadcaster and theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawistated: "Lenovo 3000 Y500 Laptop Keyboard

The declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria", adding that the title of caliph can "only be given by the entire Muslim nation", not by a single group.Two days after the beheading of Hervé Gourdel, hundreds of Muslims gathered in the Grand Mosque of Paris to show solidarity against the beheading. HP Pavilion DV9233EU Laptop Keyboard

The protest was led by the leader of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, Dalil Boubakeur, and was joined by thousands of other Muslims around the country under the slogan "Not in my name".³⁸⁶³⁸⁷ French president François Hollande said Gourdel's beheading was "cowardly" and "cruel", and confirmed that airstrikes would continue against ISIL in Iraq. DELL F484C Laptop Keyboard

Hollande also called for three days of national mourning, with flags flown at half-mast throughout the country and said that security would be increased throughout Paris.

The group has attracted widespread criticism internationally for its extremism, from governments and international bodies such as the United Nations and Amnesty International. Compaq Presario CQ57 Laptop Keyboard

On 24 September 2014, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated: "As Muslim leaders around the world have said, groups like ISIL – or Da’ish – have nothing to do with Islam, and they certainly do not represent a state. They should more fittingly be called the 'Un-Islamic Non-State'."³⁸⁸ The group was described as a cult in a Huffington Post column by notable cult authority Steven Hassan. HP Pavilion dm1-1010st Laptop Keyboard

The declaration of a new caliphate in June 2014 and the name "Islamic State" have been criticised and ridiculed by Muslim scholars and rival Islamists inside and outside the territory it controls.^61626364 In a speech in September 2014, President Obama said that ISIL is not "Islamic" on the basis that no religion condones the killing of innocents and that no government recognises the group as a state,⁶⁸ DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard

and many object to using the name "Islamic State" owing to the far-reaching religious and political claims to authority which that name implies. The United Nations Security Council, the United States, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Russia, the United Kingdom  and other countries generally call the group "ISIL", while much of the Arab world uses the Arabic acronym "Dāʻish". DELL Vostro PP37L Laptop Keyboard

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "This is a terrorist group and not a state. I do not recommend using the term Islamic State because it blurs the lines between Islam, Muslims, and Islamists. The Arabs call it 'Daesh' and I will be calling them the 'Daesh cutthroats.'"³⁹⁴ Retired general John Allen, the US envoy to co-ordinate the coalition, IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X301 2774 Keyboard

US military Lieutenant General James Terry, head of operations against the group, and Secretary of State John Kerry have all shifted toward the term DAESH by December 2014.

In late August 2014, a leading Islamic educational institution, Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah in Egypt, advised Muslims to stop calling the group "Islamic State" and instead refer to it as "Al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria" or "QSIS", SONY Vaio VGN-AW Laptop Keyboard

because of the militant group's "un-Islamic character".³⁹⁶³⁹⁷ When addressing the United Nations Security Council in September 2014, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott summarised the widespread objections to the name "Islamic State" thus: "To use this term Islamic State is to dignify a death cult; a death cult that, in declaring itself a caliphate, has declared war on the world".³⁹⁸ The group is very sensitive about its name. Lenovo 3000 N200 Laptop Keyboard

"They will cut your tongue out even if you call them ISIS – you have to say 'Islamic State'", said a woman in ISIL-controlled Mosul.In mid-October 2014, representatives of the Islamic Society of Britain, the Association of British Muslims and the UK's Association of Muslim Lawyers proposed that "'Un-Islamic State' (UIS) could be an accurate and fair alternative name to describe this group and its agenda", further stating, Lenovo 45N2106 Laptop Keyboard

"We need to work together and make sure that these fanatics don't get the propaganda that they feed off."⁴⁰⁰⁴⁰¹ The "Islamic State" is mocked on social media websites such as Twitter and YouTube, with the use of hashtags, mock recruiting ads, fake news articles and YouTube videos.⁴⁰² One parody, by a Palestinian TV satire show, portrays ISIL as "buffoon-like hypocrites", and has had more than half a million views on YouTube. HP Pavilion DV7-4053 Laptop Keyboard

In mid-February 2015, Graeme Wood, a lecturer in political science at Yale University said in the Atlantic, "Muslims who call the Islamic State un-Islamic are typically, as the Princeton scholar Bernard Haykel, the leading expert on the group’s theology, told me, “embarrassed and politically correct, with a cotton-candy view of their own religion” that neglects “what their religion has historically and legally required.” HP G72-227WM Laptop Keyboard

Many denials of the Islamic State’s religious nature, he said, are rooted in an “interfaith-Christian-nonsense tradition.”³⁴ Wood further states, "The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. COMPAQ Presario CQ61 Laptop Keyboard

But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam."Mehdi Hasan, a political journalist said in the New Statesman, "Whether Sunni or Shia, Salafi or Sufi, conservative or liberal, Muslims – and Muslim leaders – have almost unanimously condemned and denounced Isis not merely as un-Islamic but actively anti-Islamic." HP Pavilion DV3000 Laptop Keyboard

⁴⁰⁴ The British Historian, Tom Holland, writing for the New Statesman said, "Islamic State, in its conceit that it has trampled down the weeds and briars of tradition and penetrated to the truth of God’s dictates, is recognisably Salafist. When Islamic State fighters smash the statues of pagan gods, they are following the example of the Prophet; when they proclaim themselves the shock troops of a would-be global empire, HP Pavilion DV9243EA Laptop Keyboard

they are following the example of the warriors of the original caliphate; when they execute enemy combatants, and impose discriminatory taxes on Christians, and take the women of defeated opponents as slaves, they are doing nothing that the first Muslims did not glory in. Such behaviour is certainly not synonymous with Islam; but if not Islamic, then it is hard to know what else it is."⁴⁰⁵FUJITSU Lifebook E8110 Laptop Keyboard

Hassan Hassan, an analyst at the Delma Institute, wrote in The Guardian that because the Islamic State "bases its teachings on religious texts that mainstream Muslim clerics do not want to deal with head on, new recruits leave the camp feeling that they have stumbled on the true message of Islam.Former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, David Miliband concluded the 2003 invasion of Iraq caused the creation of ISIL.⁴⁰⁷Lenovo 3000 Y500 Laptop Keyboard

On 29 May, ISIL raided a village in Syria and at least 15 civilians were killed

, including, according to Human Rights Watch, at least six children.A hospital in the area confirmed that it had received 15 bodies on the same day. TheSyrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that on 1 June, a 102-year-old man was killed along with his whole family in a village in Hama province.HP 646578-001 CPU Fan

According to Reuters, 1,878 people were killed in Syria by ISIL during the last six months of 2014, most of them civilians.In Mosul, ISIL has implemented a sharia school curriculum which bans the teaching of art, music, national history, literature and Christianity. DELL Vostro A860 CPU Fan

Although Charles Darwin's theory of evolution has never been taught in Iraqi schools, the subject has been banned from the school curriculum. Patriotic songs have been declared blasphemous, and orders have been given to remove certain pictures from school textbooks. Iraqi parents have largely boycotted schools in which the new curriculum has been introduced.After capturing cities in Iraq, ISIL issued guidelines on how to wear clothes and veils. HP Pavilion dv6-3125ej CPU Fan

ISIL warned women in the city of Mosul to wear full-face veils or face severe punishment.A cleric told Reuters in Mosul that ISIL gunmen had ordered him to read out the warning in his mosque when worshippers gathered. ISIL ordered the faces of both male and female mannequins to be covered, in an order which also banned the use of naked mannequins.Compaq Presario A916NR CPU Fan

In Ar-Raqqah the group uses its two battalions of female fighters in the city to enforce compliance by women with its strict laws on individual conduct.ISIL released 16 notes labelled "Contract of the City", a set of rules aimed at civilians in Nineveh. One rule stipulated that women should stay at home and not go outside unless necessary. HP 532614-001 CPU Fan

Another rule said that stealing would be punished by amputation.In addition to the Muslim custom of banning the sale and use of alcohol, ISIL has banned the sale and use of cigarettes and hookah pipes. It has also banned "music and songs in cars, at parties, in shops and in public, as well as photographs of people in shop windows".HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan

According to The Economist, dissidents in the ISIL capital of Ar-Raqqah report that "all 12 of the judges who now run its court system ... are Saudis". Saudi practices also followed by the group include the establishment of religious police to root out "vice" and enforce attendance at salat prayers, the widespread use of capital punishment, and the destruction of Christian churches and non-Sunni mosques or their conversion to other uses. SONY VAIO PCG-6L2L CPU Fan

ISIL carried out executions on both men and women who were accused of various acts and found guilty of crimes against Islam such as homosexuality, adultery, watching pornography, usage and possession of contraband, rape, blasphemy, renouncing Islam and murder. Before the accused are executed their charges are read toward them and the spectators.  HP 489126-001 CPU Fan

Executions take various forms, including stoning to death, crucifixions, beheadings, burning people alive, and throwing people from tall buildings.

ISIL has recruited Iraqi children as young as nine to its ranks, who can be seen with masks on their faces and guns in their hands patrolling the streets of Mosul.HP Envy 17-2290nr CPU Fan

According to a report by the magazine Foreign Policy, children as young as six are recruited or kidnapped and sent to military and religious training camps, where they practise beheading with dolls and are indoctrinated with the religious views of ISIL. Children are used as human shields on front lines and to provide blood transfusions for Islamic State soldiers, according to Shelly Whitman of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. ASUS BFB0705HA CPU Fan

The second instalment of a Vice News documentary about ISIL focused on how the group is specifically grooming children for the future. A spokesman told VICE News that those under the age of 15 go to sharia camp to learn about religion, while those older than 16 can go to military training camp. Children are also used for propaganda. According to a UN report, "FUJITSU Lifebook T5010 Series CPU Fan

In mid-August, ISIL entered a cancer hospital in Mosul, forced at least two sick children to hold the ISIL flag and posted the pictures on the internet." Misty Buswell, a Save the Children representative working with refugees in Jordan, said, "It's not an exaggeration to say we could lose a whole generation of children to trauma."

There are many reports of sexual abuse and enslavement in ISIL controlled areas of women and girls, predominantly from the minority Christian and Yazidi communities. Dell Vostro 3450 CPU Fan

According to one report, ISIL's capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnap and rape. The Guardian reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped.Fighters are told that they are free to have sex with or rape non-Muslim captive women. Dell Vostro 3500 CPU Fan

A Baghdad-based women's rights activist, Basma al-Khateeb, said that a culture of violence existed in Iraq against women generally and felt sure that sexual violence against women was happening in Mosul involving not only ISIL but all armed groups.During a meeting with Nouri al-Maliki, British Foreign Minister William Hague said with regard to ISIL: HP Pavilion dv7-4070us CPUFan

"Anyone glorifying, supporting or joining it should understand that they would be assisting a group responsible for kidnapping, torture, executions, rape and many other hideous crimes".According to Martin Williams in The Citizen, some hard-line Salafists apparently regard extramarital sex with multiple partners as a legitimate form of holy war and it is "difficult to reconcile this with a religion where some adherents insist that women must be covered from head to toe, with only a narrow slit for the eyes".HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPUFan

Haleh Esfandiari from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they have captured an area. "They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls ... are raped or married off to fighters", she said, adding, "It's based on temporary marriages, ACER Aspire 4820T Series CPUFan

and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters."Speaking ofYazidi women captured by ISIL, Nazand Begikhani said, "These women have been treated like cattle... They have been subjected to physical and sexual violence, including systematic rape and sex slavery. They've been exposed in markets in Mosul and in Raqqa, Syria, carrying price tags."HP Pavilion dv7-3007tx CPUFan

Yazidi girls in Iraq allegedlyraped by ISIL fighters have committed suicide by jumping to their death from Mount Sinjar, as described in a witness statement.A United Nations report issued on 2 October 2014, based on 500 interviews with witnesses, said that ISIL took 450–500 women and girls to Iraq's Nineveh region in August, where "150 unmarried girls and women, Dell Latitude E6510 CPUFan

predominantly from the Yazidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves". In mid-October, the UN confirmed that 5,000–7,000 Yazidi women and children had been abducted by ISIL and sold into slavery.In November 2014 The New York Times reported on the accounts given by five who escaped ISIL of their captivity and abuse.HP Envy 17 Series CPUFan

In December 2014, the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights announced that ISIL had killed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jihad.Non-Muslim women have reportedly been married off to fighters against their will. ISIL claims the women provide the new converts and children necessary to spread ISIL's control. Toshiba Satellite A135-S4499 CPUFan

Shortly after the death of US hostage Kayla Mueller was confirmed on 10 February 2015, several media outlets reported that the US intelligence community believed she may have been given as a wife to an ISIL fighter. In its digital magazine Dabiq, ISIL explicitly claimed religious justification for enslaving Yazidi women. HP 441137-001 CPUFan

According to The Wall Street Journal, ISIL appeals to apocalyptic beliefs and claims "justification by a Hadith that they interpret as portraying the revival of slavery as a precursor to the end of the world".³³⁹ ISIL appeals to the Hadith and Qur'an when claiming the right to enslave and rape captive non-Muslim women.According to Dabiq," HP Pavilion dv6-2150us CPUFan

enslaving the families of the kuffar and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Sharia's that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Qur'an and the narration of the Prophet ... and thereby apostatizing from Islam." Captured Yazidi women and children are divided among the fighters who captured them, with one fifth taken as a tax.ACER eMachines G620 Series CPUFan

ISIL has received widespread criticism from Muslim scholars and others in the Muslim world for using part of the Qur'an to derive a ruling in isolation, rather than considering the entire Qur'an and Hadith. According to Mona Siddiqui, ISIL's "narrative may well be wrapped up in the familiar language of jihad and 'fighting in the cause of Allah',  TOSHIBA UDQFRZH05C1N CPUFan

but it amounts to little more than destruction of anything and anyone who doesn't agree with them"; she describes ISIL as reflecting a "lethal mix of violence and sexual power" and a "deeply flawed view of manhood".Dabiq describes "this large-scale enslavement" of non-Muslims as "probably the first since the abandonment of Shariah law". Compaq Presario C714NR CPUFan

In late 2014, ISIL released a pamphlet that focused on the treatment of female slaves.It claims that the Quran allows fighters to have sex with captives, including adolescent girls, and to beat slaves as discipline. The pamphlet's guidelines also allow fighters to trade slaves, including for sex, as long as they have not been impregnated by their owner.  DELL DFS531205PC0T(F6K2-CCW) CPUFan

The Islamic state justifies sexual slavery by quoting Quran It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with the female captive. Allah the almighty said: 'Successful are the believers who guard their chastity, except from their wives or (the captives and slaves) that their right hands possess, for then they are free from blame. HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPUFan

Charlie Winter, a researcher at the counter-extremist think tankQuilliam, described the pamphlet as "abhorent". In response to this document Abbas Barzegar, a religion professor at Georgia State University, said Muslims around the world find ISIL's "alien interpretation of Islam grotesque and abhorrent". HP G42-221BR CPUFan

Muslim leaders and scholars from around the world have rejected the validity of these claims, claiming that the reintroduction of slavery is un-Islamic, that they are required to protect 'People of the Scripture' including Christians, Jews, Muslims and Yazidis, and that ISIL's fatwas are invalid due to their lack of religious authority and the fatwas' inconsistency with Islam. HP KSB06105HA CPUFan

The Committee to Protect Journalists states: "Without a free press, few other human rights are attainable."ISIL has tortured and murdered local journalists,³⁵²³⁵³ creating what Reporters Without Borders calls "news blackholes" in areas controlled by ISIL. ISIL fighters have reportedly been given written directions to kill or capture journalists.DELL Inspiron 1564 laptop keyboard, HP Pavilion dv5-1233se laptop keyboard, HP Pavilion dv6-3001so laptop keyboard