United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2199 & 2253

Abstract

In June 2014, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) emerged on the world stage when its fighters seized Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, after moving into Iraq from its original base in Syria. Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-appointed caliph, ISIL's goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East. At its peak, ISIL was considered the wealthiest international terrorist organization in the world, estimated to have an annual budget of over $2 billion. ISIL controlled large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria, seizing control of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province, and the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria. In Iraq and Syria, ISIL also seized towns along important supply routes, and controlled critical infrastructure and border crossings. In 2015, the Central Intelligence Agency estimated that ISIL had between twenty thousand and thirty-one thousand fighters in Iraq and Syria, and approximately fifteen thousand of its members were foreign recruits. The acts of brutality committed by ISIL include beheading American journalists; the torture and ruthless slaughter of civilians; the persecution of ethnic minorities and Christians; and gross violations of international human rights that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.