Islamic State declares its ‘caliphate’

On 29 June 2014 the group then known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) announced in an audio recording that it was establishing a caliphate on territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria. It proclaimed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and “leader for Muslims everywhere”, and said it would henceforth be known as “the Islamic State”.

The BBC reported that the group said the state would extend from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq, and demanded that Muslims pledge allegiance and “reject democracy and other garbage from the West”. Spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani framed the declaration as Muslims shaking off “the dust of humiliation and disgrace”.

Later Australian measures in 2014, including the High threat level, Operation Appleby and the Foreign Fighters Act, are documented separately under those events.