The Paris atrocities came just as Assad’s military position was improving. Can the dictator harness international fury at Islamic State to strengthen his position in Syria?
In condemning terrorist attacks in Paris, French president Francois Hollande (center) used the term Da'ish to refer to Islamic State, a deliberate naming change.
Reuters
The French term for ISIS – known as Da'ish or Daesh – has gathered more interest in the wake of the Paris attacks. Here’s why this battle of naming matters.
When not employing the description ‘death cult’, Prime Minister Tony Abbott prefers to use the name Da'esh because the group ‘hates being referred to by this term’.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The terrorist group now calls itself Islamic State, but the many names by which it is known reflect both its own evolution and the deliberate choices others make in how they refer to it.