• This undated photo taken in an unknown location, obtained October 2, 2001 from the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, shows Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, centre, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, left, a physician and the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Muhammad Atef, right. AFP photo
    This undated photo taken in an unknown location, obtained October 2, 2001 from the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, shows Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, centre, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, left, a physician and the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Muhammad Atef, right. AFP photo
  • This still photo, released by the New York City Police Department, on May 2, 2010, shows one of the alarm clocks found in the Nissan Pathfinder that was used in the attempted attack on Times Square on Saturday evening on May 1, 2010. Henny Ray Abrams / AP photo
    This still photo, released by the New York City Police Department, on May 2, 2010, shows one of the alarm clocks found in the Nissan Pathfinder that was used in the attempted attack on Times Square on Saturday evening on May 1, 2010. Henny Ray Abrams / AP photo
  • A member of Kurdish Peshmerga forces takes position overlooking militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Jalawla in the Diyala province, on June 14, 2014. A major offensive by militants, spearheaded by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant but involving other groups, overran all of Nineveh and chunks of three more provinces in a matter of days. Rick Findler / AFP photo
    A member of Kurdish Peshmerga forces takes position overlooking militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Jalawla in the Diyala province, on June 14, 2014. A major offensive by militants, spearheaded by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant but involving other groups, overran all of Nineveh and chunks of three more provinces in a matter of days. Rick Findler / AFP photo
  • Men carry a body, believed to be one of the detainees held and executed by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), after it was discovered in a hospital in Aleppo that had been an ISIL stronghold before it was captured by rival rebel forces January 8, 2014. Five days of heavy rebel infighting has shaken the Al Qaeda-linked faction, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which lost its main base in the northern city of Aleppo to rival rebels, according to a monitoring group. Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters
    Men carry a body, believed to be one of the detainees held and executed by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), after it was discovered in a hospital in Aleppo that had been an ISIL stronghold before it was captured by rival rebel forces January 8, 2014. Five days of heavy rebel infighting has shaken the Al Qaeda-linked faction, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which lost its main base in the northern city of Aleppo to rival rebels, according to a monitoring group. Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters
  • An image grab taken from a video released by the Islamic State (IS) and identified by private terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence Group on September 2, 2014 purportedly shows a masked militant holding a knife and gesturing as he speaks to the camera in a desert landscape before beheading 31-year-old US freelance writer Steven Sotloff. The United States has identified the masked Islamic State militant who murdered Sotloff and US journalist James Foley in separate videotaped beheadings, FBI chief James Comey said on September 25, 2014. “We believe we have identified the executioner,” Comey told reporters at a briefing in Washington. “I won’t tell you who it is.” AFP photo
    An image grab taken from a video released by the Islamic State (IS) and identified by private terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence Group on September 2, 2014 purportedly shows a masked militant holding a knife and gesturing as he speaks to the camera in a desert landscape before beheading 31-year-old US freelance writer Steven Sotloff. The United States has identified the masked Islamic State militant who murdered Sotloff and US journalist James Foley in separate videotaped beheadings, FBI chief James Comey said on September 25, 2014. “We believe we have identified the executioner,” Comey told reporters at a briefing in Washington. “I won’t tell you who it is.” AFP photo
  • Abdullah Azzam, one of Osama bin Laden’s lieutenants, speaks in this undated still frame from a recruitment video for bin Laden’s extremist al-Qaida network. Al Rai Al Aam / Getty Images
    Abdullah Azzam, one of Osama bin Laden’s lieutenants, speaks in this undated still frame from a recruitment video for bin Laden’s extremist al-Qaida network. Al Rai Al Aam / Getty Images
  • Osama bin Laden, with the help of a map, points out the presence of US troops in the Middle East to his biographer, Hamid Mir, in Jalalabad in 1997. Mir Hamid / Daily Dawn
    Osama bin Laden, with the help of a map, points out the presence of US troops in the Middle East to his biographer, Hamid Mir, in Jalalabad in 1997. Mir Hamid / Daily Dawn
  • A member of jihadist group Al-Nusra Front stands in a street of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 11, 2014. Fighting pitting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against other rebel groups — including Al-Nusra Front, which is also linked to Al-Qaeda but is seen as more moderate — broke out in Syria last week. Baraa Al-Halabi / AFP photo
    A member of jihadist group Al-Nusra Front stands in a street of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 11, 2014. Fighting pitting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against other rebel groups — including Al-Nusra Front, which is also linked to Al-Qaeda but is seen as more moderate — broke out in Syria last week. Baraa Al-Halabi / AFP photo

In pictures: The rise of ISIL

James Ohara

October 02, 2014

  • English
  • Arabic

For centuries, men and women have answered the call to fight in the name of God. From Islamist militias to terror cells and lone bombers, here’s a look at the shifting arguments shaping global ‘jihad’.

IraqOsama bin LadenSyria