The terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has very quickly taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq, was born out of the Sunni terrorist organization al Qaeda. Its command of large areas of Syria and Iraq – and world headlines – is a result of the terror the group has provoked with its actions, such as the recent public execution of American journalist James Foley.
The leader of al Qaeda’s faction in Iraq (AQI) was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was responsible for no-holds-barred tactics in post-U.S. invasion Iraq that included beheadings, kidnappings and bombings. Killed in an American airstrike in 2006, the leadership vacuum from Zarqawi’s death was filled by Abu Du’a, an Iraqi, more commonly known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.