ISIS: DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE?

IS or ISIS: We've heard them mentioned so often on the news lately but do we really know what they are? 

I.S. (Islamic State) also known as Isis (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or Isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) are acronyms of "Al Dawla Al Islamiya fi to Iraq wa al Sham", the name of a terrorist organization Islamic jihad mold, active since 2006 between Iraq and Syria. There is also the Daesh variant, which has the same meaning, but with a negative meaning because it resembles another Arabic term that stands for "of discord bearer."

The Islamic state, which has its headquarters in Raqqa, is led by the Caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, one of the most sought terrorist in the world on which hangs a size of ten million dollars, which preaches jihad, or holy war against the infidels . The Isis is militarily occupying dozens of major cities in Iraq and in Syria, where they imposed the Sharia and exploit the oil resources that represent the primary source of income for the organization (it is about 1.5 million dollars a day).

The terrorist group has signed devastating attacks, executions and mass kidnappings that have claimed thousands of victims, and include extreme use of violence, beheadings and other horrors that are recorded and posted on the Internet and used for propaganda purposes according to a specific social media strategy. 

The Isis enlists about 35 thousand fighters who joined the so-called "lone wolves", young recruits with European passport who have joined the organization voluntarily, or simple sympathizers without direct contact with the Caliphate or any social or psychological problems apparently.

The budget of the attacks of which Isis has taken responsibility has been consistent in Europe, especially in France and Belgium, countries in the viewfinder.

Below a small summary of all the terrorist attacks that took place in Europe ....

* 11 MARCH 2004 to 191 dead and nearly 2,000 injured in a series of attacks with bombs hidden in luggage on several commuter trains in three Madrid stations, including Atocha area;

* 7 July 2005 - 56 bodies (including 4 suicide bombers) in four suicide bombings on the subway and on a bus in London. About 700 wounded. On July 21 followed by four other explosions on the Underground and on a bus, but only detonators, and there are no victims;

* March 19, 2012 - A man opened fire in front of a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing a rabbi and three students. A week earlier, the same killer had made two ambushes against soldiers in Toulouse and in Montauban: three dead and one wounded;

* May 24, 2014 - A man kills four people with blows of Kalashnikovs to the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Investigators arrested a 29 year-old Frenchman of Arab origin suspected to have been in Syria in 2013 as a volunteer in the jihadists Isis files;

* January 7, 2015 - 12 people died in the attack carried out by two Islamic terrorists in the headquarters of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. On 9 January the terrorist Coulibaly takes hostage a dozen people and kills four in a kosher supermarket in Vincennes;

* February 14, 2015 - Shooting in a Copenhagen cafe with one dead and three wounded in a conference on freedom of expression organized by the artist Lars Vilks, author of several caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in 2007. A few hours later a second shootout near a synagogue: 3 injured;

* July 20, 2015 - Attack in Suruc, Turkey, near the Syrian border. 34 deaths and hundreds of injuries among young activists of the Kurdish cause. Attack attributed ISIS;

* 10 OCTOBER 2015 to 103 killed and more than 500 injured by two suicide bombers in front of the Ankara Central Station during a pro-Kurdish demonstration. Impeach the Isis.

* 13 NOVEMBER 2015 to 130 victims of three coordinated attacks in Paris and surroundings. Three suicide bombers blow themselves up near the Stade de France, died a passer; 39 victims in 11 / or district, killed with blows of Kalashnikovs fired several bars and restaurants; 90 killed by a suicide bomber commandos in the Bataclan concert hall.

* March 22, 2016 - 31 dead and about 300 wounded in a spate of attacks in Brussels and claimed by ISIS two Zaventem airport and one at the Maalbeek metro station.

* June 28, 2016 - 41 dead and 239 wounded assassination of a female suicide bomber on June 28th at Istanbul airport.

* July 14, 2016 - dozens of deaths (at least 74 according to a first assessment), about 130 wounded, one very serious about forty in Nice for the attack of a heavy truck that mowed the crowd for about 2 km on the waterfront of the Promenade Anglais, later killed by police.                    

Alex P. & Denis