Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.
AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer
An unprecedented onslaught from the US hasn’t destroyed the terrorist organization. What is the secret of its resilience?
Iraqi special forces soldier advancing toward Mosul, Iraq.
AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed
What happens to the Islamic State if it loses the battle for territory in Iraq and Syria? Here’s a list of ways it might go down.
Without the perfect-storm conditions of post-invasion insurgency, this most potent expression of al-Qaedaism yet would never have risen to dominate both the Middle East and the world in the way that it does.
Reuters/Stringer
The final article of our series on the historical roots of Islamic State examines the role recent Western intervention in the Middle East played in the group’s inexorable rise.
After a missile hit in Damascus.
Bassam Khabieh/Reuters
Why there’s a slender – a very slender – chance for working out a settlement at upcoming talks in New York.
Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier
Twelve years after George W Bush proclaimed a new era of peace and stability in Iraq, the Middle East is more unstable and dangerous than ever before.
Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
Downing of the Russian Metrojet airliner shows how a hitherto little-known terror group and its Islamic State parent may be adapting their tactics.
One of many: a Free Syrian Army fighter.
Reuters
Russia has started bombing some of the groups machinating against Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Who are they, and what do they want?
Are these members of the Nusra Front fighting in Syria still loyal to Al-Qaeda?
Hosam Katan/Reuters
At first glance it appears that the Arab uprisings have strengthened Al-Qaeda and similar groups that fly the black banner. With the possible exception of Tunisia, the rest of the “Arab Spring” countries…