Members of Daesh group parading in a street in Libya's coastal city of Sirte, which lies 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli. AFP
Members of Daesh group parading in a street in Libya's coastal city of Sirte, which lies 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli. AFP

2014 - The rise of Daesh

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Updated 19 April 2025
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2014 - The rise of Daesh

2014 - The rise of Daesh
  • The terrorist organization changed the terms of the debate on extremism 

LONDON: In June 2014, I was part of the team that launched a new think tank looking at religious extremism. Our patron, the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, had long been concerned that the ideological element of extremist groups was being overlooked and needed more policy-focused research. 

That month, Daesh raced through northern Iraq, routing government troops and capturing a vast amount of territory and materials that would strengthen its new position. On June 29, in the central mosque in Mosul, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, declared himself to be caliph of a new caliphate. 

The world was fascinated and horrified. Most people had never heard of Daesh or were unaware of its links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq during the Iraq War. How had this group come out of nowhere to conquer the north of Iraq, in addition to its territories in Syria? The interest was such that an article I published on our think tank’s website, explaining where the group had come from, was for a while the top result in Google searches. 

For extremists and their sympathizers around the world, this was the moment for which they had been waiting and fighting for many years. Here at last, they thought, was a leader and a group capable of delivering on what it promised. 

How we wrote it




Arab News reported the militant group’s announcement of the establishment of a “caliphate.”

Extremists flocked to Daesh in droves. Estimates at the height of the group’s power put the number of foreign fighters who joined its Iraqi and Syrian core at 40,000, with a flow at its peak of up to 2,000 a month. The majority of these foreign fighters were from the Middle East and North Africa, but they included a large number from the West, and South and Southeast Asia as well. 

Throughout modern history, in every kind of social or political movement, new kinds of organizations have emerged that changed the terms of the debate. Al-Qaeda did that with the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Daesh did the same in 2014. 

The use of propaganda by Daesh probably received the most international focus, including the way it showcased of acts of extreme violence, such as the 2015 immolation of Muath Al-Kasasbeh, a Jordanian pilot, and the beheadings of soldiers, journalists and aid workers. 

The group produced slick videos and professionally edited magazines. It created vast networks on social media, playing a game of cat and mouse with the law enforcement agencies and tech companies that attempted to suppress them. 

Efforts to counter Daesh sought to emulate the group’s own tactics, but with very limited success because the majority of these efforts seemed unable to grasp the fact that the production of slick videos was not the point, but merely a mechanism for communicating a message: the caliphate that so many frustrated extremists had longed for was supposedly back. 

Another aspect in which a total change of tactics was in evidence was Daesh’s approach to governance. Other transnational terrorist groups had attempted governance, notably Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the aftermath of 2011. And other extremist groups of various ideological stripes had tried it on a large scale, including the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Key Dates

  • 1

    Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh, proclaims the establishment of a caliphate stretching from Aleppo in Syria to Diyala in Iraq.

    Timeline Image June 29, 2014

  • 2

    Daesh posts photos and videos showing beheadings of dozens of captured Syrian soldiers, American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, US aid worker Peter Kassig and British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines.

    Timeline Image July to Nov. 2014

  • 3

    US forms Global Coalition Against Daesh.

    Timeline Image Sept. 2014

  • 4

    Daesh murders 163 people and destroys historic Great Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq, and monuments at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra in Syria.

    Timeline Image June to Dec. 2017

  • 5

    US Special Forces track Al-Baghdadi to a hideout in northern Syria, where he kills himself and 3 children by detonating a suicide vest. He is succeeded as leader by Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi.

    Timeline Image Oct. 26, 2019

  • 6

    Abu Al-Hussein Al-Husseini Al-Qurashi takes over as leader after his predecessor’s death.

  • 7

    Abu Hafs Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi appointed the 5th, and current, leader of the group.

    Timeline Image Aug. 2023

But Daesh was the first group with an explicitly transnational ideology (it sought to establish a global caliphate) to attempt governance at scale. It sent out calls to doctors and teachers; it announced the launch of a currency, with great fanfare; it encouraged those who traveled to its territory to burn their passports. 

This relates to the third way in which a total change was evident in how this group operated, and the reason why extremists all over the world continue to carry out attacks in its name. 

Daesh’s actions in 2014 had sent out a message across the Islamist world: “We deliver.” For decades, various groups had claimed to seek the establishment of a caliphate. Most observers laughed at this fantasy and instead focused on how the West, in their eyes, might avoid provoking such groups. 

But the actions of Daesh granted it a legitimacy in the eyes of its ideological sympathizers. Fighters from other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq defected to it; the leaders of these groups were mere warlords in comparison to the leadership of Daesh. Groups in several countries, from Nigeria to the Philippines, swore allegiance. And across the Middle East and North Africa, Daesh cells claimed to be expanding its jurisdiction. 




Daesh militants gather at undisclosed location in Iraq's Nineveh province after taking over the Iraqi city of Tikrit, the second provincial capital to fall in two days. AFP

Despite the deaths of successive leaders and loss of its territories, allegiance to the Daesh ideology persists. In Nigeria, the Sinai, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere around the globe, people still claim to be acting in the name of the supposed “caliphate.” 

Such is the power of ideology. When we focus only on personalities, propaganda or territory, we risk missing the most important aspect. It was not Al-Baghdadi’s charismatic personality that drew people to him who had never met him and hardly ever heard him speak, and convinced them to pledge allegiance. If slickly produced films were enough, the world would be rushing to pledge allegiance to Peter Jackson. If territories were the key, support for Daesh would have dried up on the banks of the Euphrates. 

All of these things are certainly important but it is the very idea of the caliphate, and the means through which to achieve it, that holds Daesh’s supporters together.

  • Peter Welby is a priest in the Church of England. Previously, he was a consultant on religion and global affairs, specializing in the Arab world, and the managing editor of a think tank on religious extremism, the Centre on Religion and Geopolitics.  


Chopra postpones javelin meet amid India-Pakistan conflict

Chopra postpones javelin meet amid India-Pakistan conflict
Updated 11 min 21 sec ago
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Chopra postpones javelin meet amid India-Pakistan conflict

Chopra postpones javelin meet amid India-Pakistan conflict
  • Chopra’s move came after cricket-mad India and Pakistan suspended their elite Twenty20 leagues on Friday 
  • Neeraj Chopra Classic on May 24, World Athletics Gold category meet, was set to feature host of international names 

BENGALURU: India’s Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has postponed an eponymous javelin event in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru this month after his country and neighbor Pakistan extended their worst fighting in nearly three decades.
The Neeraj Chopra Classic on May 24, a World Athletics Gold category meet, was set to feature a host of international names including Anderson Peters, Julius Yego, Thomas Roehler and Curtis Thompson.
Chopra’s move came after cricket-mad India and Pakistan suspended their elite Twenty20 leagues on Friday in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
“This decision has been made after careful thought and consultation, with the wellbeing of athletes, stakeholders, and the broader community as the top priority,” Chopra’s team announced on social media on Friday.
“We believe in the unifying power of sport. But, in this critical moment, standing firm with the nation matters most. All our gratitude and thoughts at this point are only with our Armed Forces, who are at the forefront for our nation.”
Chopra said late last month it was “completely out of the question” that rival and Paris Olympics gold medalist Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan would attend the meet following a deadly Islamist militant attack in Indian Kashmir.
The two countries have clashed since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were “terrorist camps” in retaliation for the attack in Kashmir, in which it said Islamabad was involved.
Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace since then, with dozens of people dying in the violence.
Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said a revised schedule for his event would be provided in due course.


Pakistan minister denies nuclear body meeting after offensive launched on India

Pakistan minister denies nuclear body meeting after offensive launched on India
Updated 17 min 49 sec ago
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Pakistan minister denies nuclear body meeting after offensive launched on India

Pakistan minister denies nuclear body meeting after offensive launched on India
  • Since Wednesday both sides have carried out strikes, counter strikes
  • US secretary of State Rubio calls both sides for de-escalation, direct talks

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s defense minister said on Saturday that no meeting of the top military and civil body overseeing the country’s nuclear arsenal had been scheduled following a military operation against India earlier in the day.
Pakistan’s military said earlier that the prime minister had called on the authority to meet. The information minister did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The worst fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals since 1999 has killed dozens of people on both sides and led to repeated calls for de-escalation from the United States and the G7 group of rich countries.
“This thing that you have spoken about (nuclear option) is present, but let’s not talk about it — we should treat it as a very distant possibility, we shouldn’t even discuss it in the immediate context,” Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told ARY TV.
“Before we get to that point, I think temperatures will come down. No meeting has happened of the National Command Authority, nor is any such meeting scheduled.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Pakistan’s Army Chief General Asim Munir and India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, urging both sides to de-escalate and “re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation.”
“India’s approach has always been measured and responsible and remains so,” Jaishankar said on X after the call with Rubio.
Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, told local television that if India stops here then “we will consider to stop here.”
Indian media reported that Indian and Pakistani officials had spoken on Saturday.
The Indian military said regarding Pakistan’s military attacks on Saturday that “all hostile actions have been effectively countered and responded appropriately.”
“The Pakistan military has been observed to be moving their troops into forward areas, indicating offensive intent to further escalate the situation,” Indian Wing Commander Vyomika Singh told a press conference.
“Indian armed forces remain in a high state of operational readiness. Indian armed forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is reciprocated by the Pakistan military.”
STRIKES, COUNTER STRIKES
Pakistan early on Saturday said it had targeted multiple bases in India including a missile storage site in India’s north, in response to prior attacks by the Indian military.
India said there was limited damage to equipment and personnel at air force stations at the Udhampur, Pathankot, Adampur and Bhuj areas. The military said there were several high-speed missile attacks on several air bases in Punjab, and that India had responded to the attacks.
Five civilians were killed in the attacks in the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir, regional police said.
Pakistan said that, before its offensive, India had fired missiles at three air bases, including one close to the capital, Islamabad, but Pakistani air defenses intercepted most of them.
Analysts and diplomats have long feared that conflict between the arch-rivals could escalate into the use of nuclear weapons, in one of the world’s most dangerous and most populated nuclear flashpoint regions.
Locked in a longstanding dispute over Kashmir, the two countries have engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday when India launched strikes inside Pakistan on what it called “terrorist infrastructure.” Pakistan vowed to retaliate.
Pakistan’s information minister said in a post on X that Saturday’s military operation was named “Operation Bunyanun Marsoos.” The term is taken from the Qur'an and means a firm, united structure.
Sounds of explosions were reported in India’s Srinagar and Jammu, where sirens sounded, a Reuters witness said.
“India through its planes launched air-to-surface missiles ... Nur Khan base, Mureed base and Shorkot base were made targets,” Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a late-night televised statement.
India has said its strikes on Wednesday, which started the latest clashes between the countries, were in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
Pakistan denied India’s accusations that it was involved in the tourist attack. Since Wednesday, the two countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling, and sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace.


Pakistan and India say will consider de-escalation if other reciprocates

Pakistan and India say will consider de-escalation if other reciprocates
Updated 50 sec ago
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Pakistan and India say will consider de-escalation if other reciprocates

Pakistan and India say will consider de-escalation if other reciprocates
  • India hit Pakistan with air strikes and missiles on Wednesday and since then they have been clashing daily, with dozens killed
  • Pakistan said Saturday India had attacked three bases in Pakistan, after which it had targeted multiple bases in India in response

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Indian officials on Saturday said they would consider de-escalation if the other nation reciprocated, amid the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades.

India hit Pakistan with air strikes and missiles on Wednesday and since then both countries have been clashing daily through drones and missiles and gunfighting on the Line of control, the de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir region between them. At least 50 have been killed on both sides.

In the latest confrontation, Pakistan Military Spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said early on Saturday India had attacked three bases in Pakistan with missiles, after which it had targeted multiple bases in India in response, including a missile storage site in India’s north.

India said there was limited damage to equipment and personnel at air force stations in the Udhampur, Pathankot, Adampur and Bhuj areas. The military said there were several high-speed missile attacks on several air bases in Punjab, and that India had responded to the attacks.

Five civilians were killed in attacks in the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir, regional police said.

This screengrab, taken from a handout video released by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on May 10, 2025, shows the launch site of missiles fired at India. (Photo courtesy: Handout/Screengrab)

Speaking to Pakistani news channel Geo News, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said Islamabad would consider de-escalation if New Delhi stopped further attacks.

“We responded because our patience had reached its limit. If they stop here, we will also consider stopping,” Dar said, adding that he had conveyed the same message to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with him after speaking to New Delhi hours ago.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said India was committed to “non-escalation.”

“Indian armed forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is reciprocated by the Pakistan military,” she said.

“Pak military has been observed to be moving their troops into forward areas, indicating offensive intent to further escalate the situation. Indian armed forces remain in a high state of operational readiness.”

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri rejected Pakistan military’s claims that it had destroyed several air force stations in India and caused serious damage to military sites and critical infrastructure during the overnight strikes.

The Group of Seven (G7) major countries urged India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue while the US government said it had offered assistance in starting “constructive talks.”

After a call on Friday between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, the US State Department said Rubio offered US assistance “in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts.”

Rubio has held regular calls with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar since the end of April.

Latest tensions between Pakistan and India were triggered by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam resort town that killed 26 people on April 22. New Delhi has said Islamabad was involved, which denies the allegation and said it is willing to participate in a transparent and credible inquiry.

Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations, having fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, a region split between them, since gaining independence from the former British colonial rule in 1947.

Both nations acquired nuclear weapons in 1998.


Qataris search for bodies of Americans killed by Daesh in Syria

Qataris search for bodies of Americans killed by Daesh in Syria
Updated 26 min 1 sec ago
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Qataris search for bodies of Americans killed by Daesh in Syria

Qataris search for bodies of Americans killed by Daesh in Syria
  • Search mission discussed in Qatari trip to US, source says
  • Daesh beheaded a number of Western hostages
  • Qatari mission begins before Trump visit to Doha

A Qatari mission has begun searching for the remains of US hostages killed by Daesh in Syria a decade ago, two sources briefed on the mission said, reviving a longstanding effort to recover their bodies.
Daesh, which controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq at the peak of its power from 2014-2017, beheaded numerous people in captivity, including Western hostages, and released videos of the killings.
Qatar’s international search and rescue group began the search on Wednesday, accompanied by several Americans, the sources said. The group, deployed by Doha to earthquake zones in Morocco and Turkiye in recent years, had so far found the remains of three bodies, the sources said.
One of the sources — a Syrian security source — said the remains had yet to be identified. The second source said it was unclear how long the mission would last.
The US State Department had no immediate comment.
The Qatari mission gets under way as US President Donald Trump prepares to visit Doha and other Gulf Arab allies next week and as Syria’s ruling Islamists, close allies of Qatar, seek relief from US sanctions.
The Syrian source said the mission’s initial focus was on looking for the body of aid worker Peter Kassig, who was beheaded by Daesh in 2014 in Dabiq in northern Syria. The second source said Kassig’s remains were among those they hoped to find.
US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were among other Western hostages killed by Daesh. Their deaths were confirmed in 2014.
US aid worker Kayla Mueller was also killed in Daesh captivity. She was raped repeatedly by Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi before her death, US officials have said. Her death was confirmed in 2015.
“We’re grateful for anyone taking on this task and risking their lives in some circumstances to try and find the bodies of Jim and the other hostages,” said Diane Foley, James Foley’s mother. “We thank all those involved in this effort.”
The families of the other hostages, contacted via the Committee to Protect Journalists, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The extremists were eventually driven out of their self-declared caliphate by a US-led coalition and other forces.

APRIL VISIT
Plans for the Qatari mission were discussed during a visit to Washington in April by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the Minister of State for the foreign ministry, Mohammed Al Khulaifi — a trip also designed to prepare for Trump’s visit to Qatar, one of the sources said.
Another person familiar with the issue said there had been a longstanding commitment by successive US administrations to find the remains of the murdered Americans, and that there had been multiple previous “efforts with US government officials on the ground in Syria to search very specific areas.”
The person did not elaborate. But the US has had hundreds of troops deployed in northeastern Syria that have continued pursuing the remnants of Daesh.
The person said the remains of Kassig, Sotloff and Foley were most likely in the same general area, and that Dabiq had been one of Daesh’s “centerpieces” — a reference to its propaganda value as a place named in an Islamic prophecy.
Mueller’s case differed in that she was in Baghdadi’s custody, the person said.
Two Daesh members, both former British citizens who were part of a cell that beheaded American hostages, are serving life prison sentences in the United States.
Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who seized power from Bashar Assad in December, battled Daesh when he was the commander of another jihadist faction — the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front — during the Syrian war.
Sharaa severed ties to Al-Qaeda in 2016.


Yuri Cesar the hero as Shabab Al-Ahli beat Sharjah to take President’s Cup

Yuri Cesar the hero as Shabab Al-Ahli beat Sharjah to take President’s Cup
Shabab Al-Ahli players and officals celebrate winning the President's Cup after beating Sharjah 2-1 in Abu Dhabi (X/@Shabab_AlAh
Updated 33 min 11 sec ago
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Yuri Cesar the hero as Shabab Al-Ahli beat Sharjah to take President’s Cup

Yuri Cesar the hero as Shabab Al-Ahli beat Sharjah to take President’s Cup
  • A 2-1 win at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium secures UAE league, cup double for Paulo Sousa’s men

DUBAI: Brazilian winger Yuri Cesar emerged as the hero for all-conquering Shabab Al-Ahli as his brace of goals secured a come-from-behind 2-1 President’s Cup final victory against Sharjah and the fourth trophy of an unforgettable campaign.

Paulo Sousa’s troops walked out at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Friday fresh from securing ADNOC Pro League glory with three matches remaining, adding to their UAE-Qatar Challenge Shield and Emaar Super Cup triumphs.

But their latest pursuit of glory got off to a tricky start when UAE utility player Marcus Meloni slotted in an early cross for The Kings, led by Cosmin Olaroiu.

Ex-Flamengo youngster Cesar levelled in stunning fashion deep into first-half injury time with a superb free-kick, before a dizzying solo run and precise low strike from the edge of the penalty box proved decisive just past the hour mark.

Sousa told Abu Dhabi Sports: “Myself and my staff decided to come here (last summer) because we felt we had the ambition from the club, then we built it up. We deserve all these treasures; it was amazing.

“It’s a very difficult team to play (Sharjah). They are really mature; without too many things they create lots of difficulties because they are really compact and determined in individual challenges.”

Under the guidance of Sousa — and including the likes of Iran’s superstar Sardar Azmoun and emerging UAE goalkeeper Hamad Al-Meqbaali in their ranks — Shabab Al-Ahli have been this term’s dominant force. They were only denied a clean domestic sweep after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Al-Jazira in last month’s ADIB Cup showpiece.

Shabab Al-Ahli are now the President’s Cup’s most successful team with 11 titles, one more than Sharjah.

Friday’s clash represented another near miss for their opponents, who are on course to finish a distant second in the top flight.