Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

After a month of fighting in Iraq, the ISIS insurgency has made considerable progress, even if there is now something of a stalemate as Shi'a militias organise themselves and the weak Iraqi Army gets a measure of support from Russia, the United States and especially Iran.

As fasting for Ramadan began, a Sunni terrorist group popularly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria proclaimed a caliphate, or religious-political dominion. ISIS also renamed itself “The Islamic State,” or IS. Across Iraq and Syria, IS has targeted key infrastructure for capture and revenue generation.

Fortifying Diyala province. Iraqi forces build a wall to keep out fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Westerners who have joined the ranks of radical groups fighting in Syria have been likened to time bombs—and in May one of them exploded in Brussels.

After the death of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011, the global jihadist movement seemed to have become fragmented and considerably weakened. This happened for various reasons.

The conflicts in Syria and Iraq are attracting many westerners, including young Australians, as jihadi fighters.

The costs of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan now stand at more than 350,000 lives lost and $4.4 trillion spent.