Islamic State: A year of death and destruction

One year after the so-called Islamic State (IS) took control of Mosul, it remains a formidable force with little sign that a U.S.-led bombing campaign has significantly blunted its abilities or ambitions
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Jun 2014: IS seizes Iraq’s second city of Mosul and declares caliphate across Iraq and Syria

Aug 2: IS launches new northern offensive, targeting minority groups such as Yazidis with mass killings, enslavement and rape

Aug 8: U.S. launches first air strikes against IS in Iraq, halting advances into Kurdish region

Aug 19: U.S. journalist James Foley beheaded on video – first of seven beheadings of foreign hostages

Sep: Anti-IS air campaign by U.S. and Arab allies expands to Syria

Dec: Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by coalition strikes, push IS out of most of Sinjar region

Jan 2015: Syrian Kurdish militia, backed by coalition air strikes, recapture Kobane after more than four months of fierce fighting

Feb: IS video shows Jordanian pilot being burned alive in cage

Mar: IS destroys Assyrian archaeological sites of Nimrud and Hatra

Apr: Iraqi forces, Iranian-backed Shia militias and U.S.-led air strikes regain control of Tikrit

May: IS captures Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, and ancient Syrian city of Palmyra

Jun: Iraqi forces advance against IS in town of Baiji, seen as crucial target in plan to retake Mosul
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TURKEY

Kobane

Aleppo

Homs

LEB.

Damascus

Deir al-Zawr

Raqqa

Palmyra

SYRIA

Al-Tanf

JORDAN

Hasakah

Mosul

Sinjar

Baiji

Tikrit

Qaim

Haditha

IRAQ

ANBAR PROVINCE

Kurdish region

Irbil

Kirkuk

IRAN

Baghdad

Fallujah

Ramadi

IS control IS support areas Full or partial IS control

100km 60 miles
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Sources: Institute for the Study of War, wire agencies

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