Since its formation in April of last year, ISIS has exerted its force on the Middle East and taken center stage of the worldwide news.
The expansion of the extremist group has fear touching all corners of the world: Paris and London, the United States, and even Australia.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a terrorist organization with the goal of “having an Islamic-dominated world,” according to LHS international studies teacher Mr. Brian Voss. The organization wants to form an Islamic state in the Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria.
The Islamic religion is divided between the Shia and the Sunni; the majority of the Islamic supporters worldwide are Shias, while about 10-20 percent of the population is Sunni, like ISIS. The minority Sunnis feel that, despite their smaller size, they deserve more political power, like they had under Saddam Hussein.
LHS government teacher and department supervisor Mr. Shawn McCusker said that they want to form their Islamic state “in the spirit of the old Caliphate,” meaning that they want to return to a time “when there was a Muslim empire that was led by a Caliph and all laws were Muslim laws” and a time where “the government and the church were one.”
Since the beheading of American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley on video on September 2, ISIS has been active around the globe. They have been steady with their attacks in Iraq, Syria and the rest of the Middle East, as well as claiming to be planning an attack on all states fighting the Islamic State, specifically the “US, UK, France, Australia, and Germany,” according to the International Business Times.
Most recently, ISIS has set its sights on the city of Kobani, along the Syrian and Turkish border. This city is very valuable as it gives the Islamic State a stretch of 62 miles that they hold; according to CNN, the United States cannot stop the taking of Kobani because ISIS has already taken a large majority of the city and the airstrikes cannot not stop protect Kobani.
With the U.S. leading airstrikes, countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Australia are also helping the anti-ISIS cause. Powerhouses Great Britain and France have also recently begun the anti-ISIS cause, as the British and French participated as an act to fight ISIS killing its hostages.
