Islamic State, The New "Caliphate"

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (alternatively translated as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham) abbreviated ISIL, ISIS, now officially calling itself simply the Islamic State is an unrecognized state and active jihadist militant group in Iraq and Syria. In its self-proclaimed status as a sovereign state, it claims the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims over more of the Levant region, including Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon,Kuwait, a part of southern Turkey including Hatay, part of the former Aleppo Vilayet of Ottoman Syria and Cyprus.

ISIS which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria has announced the establishment of a "caliphate" straddling the two countries, urging other groups to pledge allegiance.

The Syrian and Iraqi Map as of now with territories under control of various groups.

In an audio recording released on Sunday, the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant declared its chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, "the caliph" and "leader for Muslims everywhere".

"The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organisations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph's authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas," said the group's spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani. "Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day.''

The group announced that it was now called the "Islamic State". According to the statement, the new caliphate stretches from Iraq's Diyala province to Syria's Aleppo.

"The Shura [council] of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue [of the caliphate] ... the Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims, said Adani. "The words 'Iraq' and 'the Levant' have been removed from the name of the Islamic State in official papers and documents."

An official document was also released, in English and several other languages.

It describes Baghdadi as "the sheikh, the fighter, the scholar who practices what he preaches, the worshiper, the leader, the warrior, the reviver, descendant from the family of the Prophet, the slave of God". It urges Muslims to "gather around your caliph, so that you may return as you once were for ages, kings of the earth and knights of war."

Being the richest of all the extremist organizations ISIS has the resources and the proper propaganda machine to reach their target audience around the world. It has successfully delivered its message to the intended audience and the audience has so far responded positively. Recruits from Europe and America have come to Syria and Iraq in good numbers to fight under the Umbrella of ISIS.

With Baghdadi as the new self declared Caliph the ambitious plan of this group is to establish a Caliphate or an Islamic state based on their interpretation and understanding of Islam which stretches as far as Rome as shown in the bellow picture.

The new Caliphate as envisioned by ISIS

There are new allies drawn on the ground and the situation is getting ever complex and fragile with each passing day. World powers, regional players as well as ethnic groups all vying for power and secure their interests and ensure their survival. 

The biggest question with this ambitious plan of Islamic State is that what would the traditional ideological supporter of this group, which is Saudi Arabia would do? Clearly Islamic state has overstepped and crossed the red lines. The group is conservative so much so that they even plan to conquer Mecca, the holiest of all to every single Muslim and destroy Kaaba and kill the worshipers because they feel those people worship stones not God. Things are developing very fast in Iraq and it needs to be seen that either the momentum of ISIS continues to gain or this momentum will be broken and the divided Iraqi government, tribal leaders, Kurdish leaders and world powers will see the common enemy and unite against this dangerous terrorist organization.