ISIS, ISIL, Daesh: A primer on why the terrorist group’s name keeps changing

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has increasingly been using “Daesh” as its preferred name for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the murderous militant group also known as ISIS, ISIL and the Islamic State. Some facts:

— Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi travelled to Afghanistan near the end of the clash with the Soviets, met Osama bin Laden, and in his native Jordan later founded a group called Unity and Jihad. It became Al-Qaida in Iraq, after he pledged loyalty to bin Laden’s group during the war against U.S. forces there. It split with al-Qaida over tactics and strategy after al-Zarqawi’s death, adopting a new name that translated as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. It later shortened its name to “Islamic State.”

— Al-Sham is a historic Islamic term for the land bordering the eastern Mediterranean. The closest traditional English equivalent for al-Sham is “the Levant” — hence the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), U.S. President Barack Obama’s preferred term.

— Most of the group’s opponents in the Arab world use a version of “Daesh.” The Spanish government followed suit last year. The French use it consistently. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry explained last year why he preferred the term. Obama’s started too, although he mainly uses ISIL.

— Daesh is an acronym that sounds closer to the Arabic name — and like an insult. It resembles the Arabic word “daes,” which refers to something that stomps, or crushes. It strips the group of its self-proclaimed importance. It’s the term preferred by Arabs who oppose the group.

—The Associated Press reported that ISIL hates the name so much that it threatened to cut out the tongue of Iraqis who used it after it invaded Mosul last year. A core part of its mythology is that it is the modern-day heir to the original Muslim caliphates, which requires being seen as “Islamic,” and a “state.”