who created isis

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was created as an offshoot of al- Qaeda in Iraq in 2004. It was originally founded by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who established a group called Jama’at al-Tawhid wa’l-Jihad in 1999. This group later became al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2004 under Zarqawi's leadership. After Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006, the group evolved into the Islamic State of Iraq and later, in 2013, rebranded as ISIS, expanding its operations into Syria. In 2014, ISIS declared itself a caliphate under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent disbanding of the Iraqi army, along with the imprisonment of many leaders in U.S.-run prisons like Camp Bucca, created conditions that helped ISIS rise. Former Iraqi military officers and detained militants played significant roles in the group's organization and military effectiveness. Thus, ISIS was not created by a single country or individual but emerged from radical Islamist militant groups in the context of regional instability following the 2003 Iraq War, with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a key founder figure and later led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.