ISIS Chemical Weapons Laboratory Developing Lethal Weapons, Iraqi Intelligence

In April 2013, having expanded into Syria joining the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, the group created the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham. These recent attacks are an indication of the group’s expanded worldwide scope and the heightened threat level it poses around the world.

In November, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) showed Reuters a report that claims ISIS and another rebel group in Syria used chemical weapons.

France has called for a global coalition to defeat the radicals and has launched three large air strikes on Raqqa – the de-facto Islamic State capital in northern Syria. Go with “Syria” and the acronym becomes ISIS.

Also discussed was Hollande’s visit to Washington next Tuesday to meet US President Barack Obama, and a trip to Moscow two days later to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, he said it is not thought Islamic State has the ability to manufacture chemical or biological weapons outside of Iraq or Syria and we should not be “overly panicked” about the threat to targets in Europe and the UK.

“Terrorism hit France not because of what it is doing in Iraq and Syria … but for what it is”, Valls told the lower house of Parliament. The French government explained the choice in naming as part of an effort to avoid legitimising the group by denying that it was either a state or Islamic.

Al-Sham is the historic Arabic name for Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.

It’s the acronym for the Arabic name of the group, al-dowla al-islaamiyya fii-il-i’raaq wa-ash-shaam, but it never gained much traction and the group’s branding tends to use the English translations. The strategy behind the Islamic State’s actions is to strengthen social divisions among communities and then offer their “protection” to the aggrieved Sunni Muslim minorities. “Daesh” has allowed Arabic speakers to play with the name in pejorative ways, because it sounds like, or rhymes with, many words that have negative connotations – “daes”, for example, which means someone who tramples something underfoot, or “dahes”, the Arabic word for “sower of discord”.

Q: Why has the group shortened its name in the past few months, simply to “Dawlat al-Islamiyah” or the “Islamic State”? I don’t necessarily have a problem with Daesh.

Still, USA intelligence officials say they don’t believe IS has the technological capability to produce nerve gas or biological agents, and that the militants were more likely to harm themselves trying to make them.

Saying that he favours “Isil – to keep up with the US”, Mr Joshi said: “I think the whole debate is rather superficial but I can understand why there is a move towards Daesh.”Daesh is fine but I think it will confuse a lot of people”.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist said there were vehement denunciations whenever anyone seeks to expose certain facts and truths to the Western powers.

However, these figures do not necessarily reflect the situation on the ground.

They enjoy freedom of movement in the largely uninhabited areas outside what the Institute for the Study of War calls “control zones”, but they would struggle to defend them.