This article contains a timeline of events from January 2015 to December 2015 related to the Islamic State (IS). This article contains information about events committed by or on behalf of the Islamic State, as well as events performed by groups who oppose them.
Timeline
January 2015 IS's official spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani released an audio statement in which he accepted the earlier pledge of allegiance and announced the expansion of IS's caliphate with the creation of Wilayat Khorasan (Khurasan Province), a historical region incorporating parts of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hafiz Khan Saeed was appointed as its local leader, or Wāli (Governor). Abdul Rauf was named as Khan's deputy, however he was killed by a US drone strike in Afghanistan several weeks later.
4 January: IS troops attacked Saudi Arabia again, near the border city of Arar, Saudi Arabia, killing four Saudi border guards. Four IS militants were also killed in the clashes. 5 January: In Kobanî, Kurdish YPG units captured the governmental and security district and the al-Refia, al-Sena'a, al-Tharura, and al-Banat schools. YPG also advanced in the Mishtanour neighbourhood south of the town. According to SOHR, the YPG now controls at least 80% of Kobanî. At least 14 IS militants were killed in the clashes. 6 January: A female suicide bomber detonated her vest at a police station in Istanbul's central Sultanahmet district, the perpetrator was identified as Diana Ramazova, a Chechen-Russian citizen from Dagestan. Turkish police are currently investigating Ramazova's possible links to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. Further investigation revealed that suspect had photos with insurgents from IS 10 January: Suicide bombing in the Tripoli café in Lebanon kills 9 and wounds 30. It is initially attributed to IS militants, though other reports claim that only the al-Nusra Front is responsible. 12 January: IS battles for the town of Gwer, which was re-taken by Iraqi forces in August 2014. IS kills 30 Kurds in the conflict, despite US-led Coalition airstrikes. IS kidnapped 21 Christians in Tripoli, Libya. 13 January: Someone claiming to represent IS hacked U.S. Military's Twitter account and threatened vengeance on American soldiers for the US's intervention against IS, and inserted a video that warned IS about a U.S Military attack. IS affiliate group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, claimed to have kidnapped and killed an Egyptian police officer, Ayman al-Desouky. 14 January: Christopher Lee Cornell, an alleged IS sympathiser, was arrested for plotting to bomb the US Capitol. 15 January: 2 suspected terrorists linked with IS were shot dead by Belgian police and another wounded in the Belgian town of Verviers, during an anti-terrorist raid. 17 January: Fighting broke out in the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah between Syrian government forces and Kurdish militia, namely the People's Protection Units (YPG). The two sides, having previously coexisted and having focused on other enemies, clashed when government forces took control of buildings understood to be demilitarised, according to the SOHR. 18 January: Israel arrests 7 Arabs who admitted being IS members. The allegation was that they were caught just before executing an attack and were practising on animals how to behead people. 19 January: A Canadian special forces commander said that Canadian snipers "neutralized" IS militants in Iraq, after "advisers" operating at the front lines of the conflict came under fire. Also, in Kobanî, YPG fighters fully recaptured the Mistanour Hill south of Kobanî, killing 11 IS militants. By recapturing this hill, the YPG controlled the IS supply routes to Aleppo and Raqqa. By that time, IS control ofKobanî was reduced to 15%. Additionally, Syrian government loyalists and Kurdish fighters in Al-Hasakah reached a cease-fire, although sporadic clashes continued. 20 January: IS threatens to kill two Japanese hostages, Kenji Goto Jogo, a journalist, and Haruna Yukawa, a military company operator, unless a ransom of 200 million USD is paid. 21 January: Kurdish Peshmerga fighters began a planned operation to capture Mosul, liberating multiple villages neighbouring Mosul, and disrupting essential IS supply routes between Mosul, Tal Afar, and Syria. Also, U.S. airstrikes were conducted to assist the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters prior to and during the liberation operation. An estimated 200 IS fighters were killed on the first day of the clashes. The Peshmerga also positioned themselves on three fronts near Mosul. U.S. airstrikes near the Iraqi towns of Sinjar, Kirkuk, and Ramadi destroyed ISIä heavy weaponry and killed an unknown number of fighters. 23 January: Kurdish forces reported firing 20 Grad missiles into Mosul, upon receiving intelligence that IS militants were gathering to meet near the city's Zuhour neighbourhood. Firing from about north of Mosul, Captain Shivan Ahmed said that the rockets hit their targets. IS claimed that the rockets also hit civilians. 24 January: The Lebanese Army repelled another joint IS–al-Nusra incursion near Arsal, leading to the deaths of 5 Lebanese soldiers. 25 January: IS published a video declaring the execution of Haruna Yukawa, and have revised their demands. They no longer seek the $200 million USD ransom; instead, they demand the release of Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi in exchange for Kenji Goto and Muath al-Kasasbeh, a Jordanian fighter pilot. Also, the village of Mamid was recaptured by YPG and FSA fighters. IS lost 12 militants and a vehicle in the clashes. On the same day, YPG fighters cut the IS supply route to Kobanî, forcing IS into retreat. 25 January: 392 Special Action Force (SAF – a unit of the Philippine National Police) commandos have been engaged to hunt Malaysian bomb-maker and Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir, known as Marwan, and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman. Both of them 2 most wanted terrorists protected by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)a Muslim insurgent group which pledged allegiance to IS in 2014. One of the SAF teams raided the hut where they believed Marwan was located and succeeded to kill him. The commandos were retreating from the assault on their targets when they came under fire from members of the BIFF. In maneuvering away from the BIFF assault, they strayed into territory controlled by the MILF (another Muslims insurgent group which signed peace agreement with Philippinas Government) several kilometers away, and a "misencounter" ensued, resulting in the death of 44 Police troopers killed in action and 16 wounded. At least 18 MILF fighters were killed and 5 BIFF fighters.Mamasapano clash 26 January: The YPG, with some assistance from US airstrikes, forced remaining IS forces in the city of Kobanî to retreat, and the YPG managed to enter the eastern outlying areas, thus fully recapturing the city of Kobanî. However, IS resistance persists in the eastern outskirts of Kobanî, and the surrounding Kobanî region remains under IS occupation. 27 January: Suspected IS militants in Libya killed eight people, after storming the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli and detonating a car bomb. Also, YPG fighters recaptured the Helnej village southeast of Kobanî, and they also besieged IS forces in the southern countryside of the city. The next day, YPG and FSA fighters recaptured Kolama village, Seran mall, and Noroz hall. Later on 27 January, YPG fighters drove out the remaining IS forces in the southeastern corner of the City of Kobanî, thus securing 100% control of the city. 29 January: An IS militant claimed that IS has smuggled 4,000 militants into the European Union under the guise of civilian refugees. IS claimed that the fighters were planning retaliatory attacks. 31 January: IS claims to have beheaded Japanese hostage journalist Kenji Goto, the second IS execution of a Japanese person.
February 2015
3 February: IS released a video of Jordanian hostage Muath al-Kasasbeh being burned to death while locked in a cage. Protests occurred in Jordan with some Jordanians demanding revenge on IS. Also, IS launched another incursion into Arsal, Lebanon, from their base in the countryside near the Syrian border to the west of Flitah, making it the deadliest IS incursion into Lebanon since their incursion into Arsal in August 2014. 4 February: Jordan executed two of its Al-Qaeda in Iraq prisoners, in retaliation against IS's burning of the Jordanian pilot. Sajida al-Rishawi, the Al-Qaeda in Iraq failed suicide bomber that IS wanted released in the proposed prisoner swap, was one of the executed terrorists. Jordanian TV also stated that Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kaseasbeh was believed to have been executed by IS as early as 3 January 2015. Jordan's King Abdullah II vowed a "relentless war" against IS on its own territory, for killing Al-Kaseasbeh. Syrian Kurds fighting IS forces near Kobanî stated that they faced "no resistance" due to the fact that IS kept "withdrawing its fighters" whenever the Kurds entered another village. Later on 4 February, Jordan began launching airstrikes on IS positions in Iraq, in retaliation for IS's killing of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh. The airstrikes killed 55 IS militants in Mosul, including a senior IS commander known as the "Prince of Nineveh". 5 February: Jordanian F-16s continued an elevated airstrike campaign against IS, targeting militants near the de facto IS capital of Raqqa, Syria. 6 February: A continued round of Coalition airstrikes at Raqqa killed over 30 IS militants. 7 February: IS claimed that American female hostage Kayla Mueller was killed in the Jordanian airstrike on Raqqa on 5 February. However, some experts believe that she may have been killed before the date of the video's release, in order for IS to try to drive a wedge between the US and Jordan by blaming her death on the Jordanian airstrikes. 8 February: IS reportedly took over the town of Nofaliya in Libya, after a convoy of 40 heavily armed vehicles arrived from Sirte and ordered Nofaliya's residents to "repent" and pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The fighters appointed Ali Al-Qarqaa as the IS emir of the town. 9 February: US airstrikes targeted IS strongholds in and around the town of Hawija, a mixed Kurdish-Arab city to the west of Kirkuk, which has been under ISIL control since June 2014. 10 February: President Obama confirmed the death of U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller by IS.Peter Foster, "US female hostage held by Isil is dead, confirms Obama," The Daily Telegraph, 10 February 2015 12 February: IS fighters seized most of the town of Khan al Baghdadi, with some reports indicating 90%, which is located 85 km northwest of Ramadi. It was also reported that IS had launched a direct attack on the Al Asad Airbase, where nearly 300 US soldiers are stationed. 14 February: The Libyan parliament confirmed the deaths of 21 kidnapped Egyptian Coptic Christian workers in Libya, after the IS English language publication Dabiq had released photos claiming their execution. 16 February: Egypt retaliated against IS for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by bombing IS camps, training sites, and weapons storage depots in neighbouring Libya. 50 IS militants in Derna were killed by the initial airstrikes. 17 February: It was revealed that IS had launched another major assault on Erbil, coming within of the city. 20 February: Pierre Choulet, known as "Abou-Talha al-Faransi" (the Frenchman) who left France for Syria in October 2013, blew up himself in suicide bombing during an attack on a military base in Iraq.