The group has been designated a by the and many individual countries. As a caliphate, it claims religious, political and military authority over all. Its adoption of the and its idea of a have been widely criticised, with the United Nations, various governments and mainstream Muslim groups rejecting its. In Syria, the group conducted ground attacks on both and and by December 2015 it held a large area in western Iraq and eastern Syria, containing an estimated 2. In July 2017, the group lost control of its largest city,to the Iraqi army. On 10 December 2017, Iraq's Prime Minister said that Iraqi forces had driven the last remnants of Islamic State from the country, three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq's territory. While the use of either one or the other has been the subject of debate, the distinction between the two and its relevance has been considered not so great. In late June 2014, the group renamed itself ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah lit. 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. It adheres to global principles and follows the hard-line ideology of and many other modern-day jihadist groups. However, other sources trace the group's roots to. For their guiding principles, the leaders of the Islamic State. The group circulates images of Wahhabi religious textbooks from Saudi Arabia in the schools it controls. Videos from the group's territory have shown Wahhabi texts plastered on the sides of an official missionary van. It condemns later caliphates and the for deviating from what it calls pure Islam, and seeks to revive the original Wahhabi project of the restoration of the caliphate governed by strict Salafist doctrine. The noted scholar of militant Islamism writes: References to the End Times fill Islamic State propaganda. It's a big selling point with foreign fighters, who want to travel to the lands where the final ubi customer care number of the apocalypse will take place. The Islamic State has stoked the apocalyptic fire. Governments in the Middle East two decades ago were more stable, and sectarianism was more subdued. It was better to recruit by calling to arms against corruption and tyranny than against the Antichrist. Today, though, the apocalyptic recruiting pitch makes more sense than before. As caliph, he demands the allegiance of all devout Muslimsaccording to Islamic jurisprudence. All non-Muslim areas would be targeted for conquest after the Muslim lands were dealt with, according to the Islamist manual. Before their deaths, he had two deputy leaders, for Iraq and also known as Abu Ala al-Afri for Syria, both ethnic. Advising al-Baghdadi is a cabinet of senior leaders, while its operations in Iraq and Syria are controlled by local governors. Beneath the leaders are councils on finance, leadership, military matters, legal matters including decisions on executions foreign fighters' assistance, security, intelligence and media. In addition, a council has the task of ensuring that all decisions made by the governors and councils comply with the group's interpretation of. Civilians, as well as the Islamic State itself, have released footage of some of the human rights abuses. Al-Hisbah is led by Abu Muhammad al-Jazrawi. 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. Ninety percent of the group's weapons ultimately originated in China, Russia or according to. Non-conventional weapons The group uses truck andandand has used in Iraq and Syria. The group closed the gates of the smaller Nuaimiyah dam in Fallujah in April 2014, flooding the surrounding regions, while cutting the water supply to the -dominated south. Around 12,000 families lost their homes and 200 km² of villages and fields were either flooded or dried up. The economy of the region also suffered with destruction of cropland and electricity shortages. There have been several cases of new recruits expecting to be who have returned from Syria disappointed by the everyday jobs that were assigned to them, such as drawing water or cleaning toilets, or by the ban imposed on use of mobile phones during military training sessions. These houses were often small, dirty and infested with vermin and food supply was scarce. There they remained until they either had found a husband, or the husband they had arrived with had completed his training. After being allowed to leave the confinement, women still generally spent most of their days indoors where their lives are devoted to caring for their husbands and the vast majority of women in the conflict area have children. Widows are encouraged to remarry. It uses a version of the Muslim flag and developed an which has clear symbolic meaning in the Muslim world. It began to expand its media presence in 2013, with the formation of a second media wing, Al-I'tisam Media Foundation, in March and the Ajnad Foundation for Media Production, specialising in and audio content, in August. In July 2014, al-Hayat began publishing a digital magazine calledin a number of different languages including English. According to the magazine, its name is taken from the town of in northern Syria, which is mentioned in a about. Al-Hayat also began publishing other digital magazines, including the Turkish languag
