Islamic State's beginnings can arguably be traced as far back as the 1980s, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh, traveled to Afghanistan in 1989 during the Soviet incursion. The Jordanian had spent most of his adult life engaged in violent activism in the Middle East. The invasion of Iraq by US-led forces took Zarqawi to Iraq, where he pledged allegiance to al-Qaida. After his death in a US airstrike in June 2006 in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq was established.

· May 2010

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was appointed the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. He led the group as civil conflicts erupted in Iraq, and the group grew in size and strength.