A RETROSPECTIVE LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF THE EMERGENCE OF ISIS

This research evaluates the political situation in Iraq that emerged after the U.S.-led coalition forces invaded the country with the aim of overthrowing Saddam Hussein. It also examines the development stages of ISIS as a transnational terrorist organization. It is shown that ISIS has its roots in the group “Tawhid and Jihad,” founded in 1999 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. As the group grew stronger and its ambitions expanded, it changed its name several times: from 2004 it operated as “Al-Qaeda in Iraq” (AQI), and from 2006 as the “Islamic State of Iraq” (ISI). In 2013, ISI expanded into Syria and began calling itself the “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham” (ISIS). Finally, at the end of June 2014, it was announced that ISIS would henceforth be known as the “Islamic State” (caliphate). The declaration of the “Islamic State” (caliphate) was aimed at legitimizing ISIS’s occupation of vast territories, its crimes, and acts of barbarism by giving them a legal facade. Additionally, ISIS leaders intended to draw upon the religious, historical, and ideological significance of the caliphate concept, which traces back to the early years of Islam.