The Philippines is one of the state opponents of the militant group,

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL), more commonly referred to by the local media as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIL maintains operations in the Philippines through local jihadist groups -

Maute group The Maute group ( or ), also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, was a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters led by Omar Maute, the alleged founder of a ''Dawlah Islamiya'', o ...

Abu Sayyaf group Abu Sayyaf (; ar, جماعة أبو سياف; ', ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based i ...

Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, is an Islamist militant organization based in Mindanao, the Philippines. It is a smaller player in the overall Moro insurgency in the Phili ...

and

Ansar Khalifa Philippines Ansar Khalifa Philippines, also referred to as Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines and Ansarul Khilafah Philippines ("Supporters of the Caliphate in the Philippines") is a Philippine-based militant group that emerged in August 2014 when it rele ...

. The groups pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014 or the following years. ISIL has been linked to increased suicide bombings by Filipino nationals in 2018 and 2019, a method which has been rarely carried out in the Philippines and the few successfully carried out done by foreigners. Filipinos were suspected to be involved in the 2018 Lamitan, 2019 Jolo Cathedral and Indanan bombings.

Main events timeline

2014

On July 23, Abu Sayyaf leader

Isnilon Hapilon Isnilon Totoni Hapilon (March 10, 1968 – October 16, 2017), also known by the ''nom de guerre'' Abu Abdullah al-Filipini, was a Moro Filipino Islamist militant affiliated with ISIS. He was formerly leader of Abu Sayyaf Group, before its bat ...

pledged allegiance to ISIL through a video posted on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. This is an indication of ISIL presence in the Philippines.

2015

In April, Maute group pledged allegiance to

ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

along with the

terrorist organization, vowing to provide support for each other. The Maute Group was a strong manifestation of the rise of family terrorism in the Philippines. On November 16, When the APEC Summit was to be held in Manila, a video of men in masks with ISIL black flag behind them is posted on Facebook, claiming "ISIL in Mindanao" will attack the summit.

2017

May 23 A video discovered on a cellphone seized by AFP during a raid on a safe house in Marawi shows militants including Hapilon and Maute brothers were planning attack on

Marawi Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao: ''Inged a Marawi''; fil, Islamikong Lungsod ng Marawi), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a po ...

. The attack was the 4th step for them to gain the approval of the ISIL leadership,"''requires the conduct of widespread atrocities and uprisings all across Mindanao.''" June 1 Eight foreign militants had been killed in Marawi, five of which they have identified as

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

i and a Chechen. ; October 16

and

Omar Maute Omarkhayam Romato Maute (June 12, 1980 – October 16, 2017) was a Moro militant who co-founded, along with his brother Abdullah Maute, a ''Dawlah Islamiyah'' (Islamic state) group in Mindanao, Philippines, commonly known as the Maute group afte ...

was reportedly killed. October 19 the Malaysian terrorist Mahmud Ahmad who helped finance the Marawi siege and recruit foreign fighters was killed.

ISIL's support

In March 2016, training manuals, bandanas with ISIL inscriptions and other documents for militants under the ISIL were recovered after the military captured a Maute group camp, indicating that the group may be trying to link up with ISIL. On June 21, 2016, ISIL released a video entitled "The Solid Structure" recognized Abu Sayyaf leader Hapilon as the

mujahid ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

authorized to lead the

jihadists Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

in the Philippines, and designated him as the

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

for

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. The video also urged aspiring members who can't go to the Middle East to fight for ISIL in the Philippines instead. In August 2017, another video released by ISIL asks would-be fighters to go to the Philippines, especially the Marawi City where militants are

under siege ''Under Siege'' is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis, written by J. F. Lawton, and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones, after they commandeer the ...

of the government forces.

Filipino members of ISIL

Involvement of Filipino citizens in ISIL has been reported as early as 2014. According to the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' citing undisclosed Kurdish sources that a Filipino national was among the ISIL members who appeared in a beheading video of American aid worker

Peter Kassig Peter Edward Kassig (February 19, 1988 – November 16, 2014), also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, was an American aid worker who was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Early life and education Kassig was born and raised in I ...

and 18 Syrian soldiers uploaded in

. The Philippine military said that the report could not be verified and said that there was no ISIL recruitment in the Philippines at that time. The Department of Foreign Affairs during this time has been receiving unverified reports of Filipinos training to fight for ISIL in Syria. In June 2016, ISIL released a video where three of its members, a Filipino, an Indonesian and a Malaysian urged aspiring members who can't go to the Middle East to fight for ISIL in the Philippines instead. In January 2017, Rappler reports that the Filipino member was identified as Mohammad Reza Kiram, a 21-year old who was the first verified member in ISIL fighting in Syria.

Affiliate groups in the Philippines

The following Philippine-based militant groups have pledged allegiance to ISIL. *

Abu Sayyaf Abu Sayyaf (; ar, جماعة أبو سياف; ', ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based i ...

Non-state opponents of ISIL in the Philippines

Aside from the Philippine government, ISIL and its affiliate groups in the Philippines has received armed opposition from other local groups in the Philippines. *

Moro Islamic Liberation Front The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; ar, ''Jabhat Taḥrīr Moro al-ʾIslāmiyyah'') is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro r ...

Moro National Liberation Front The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF; ar, الجبهة الوطنية لتحرير مورو) is a political organization in the Philippines that was founded in 1972. It started as a splinter group of the Muslim Independence Movement. The M ...

Related clashes

The following are the list of battle and clashes involving the jihadist groups since they respectively pledged allegiance to ISIS: * January 2015

Mamasapano clash The Mamasapano clash was a shootout that took place during a police operation by the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25, 2015, in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, then-undivided Maguindanao (which is now ...

* 2016 Butig clashes * April 2016

Battle of Tipo-Tipo The Battle of Tipo-Tipo was a military engagement that began on 9 April 2016 at Tipo-Tipo, Basilan Island, Philippines between forces of the Philippine Army and members of the Abu Sayyaf militant group. The battle resulted in dozens of casualti ...

Summer 2016 Sulu and Basilan Clashes Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

* January 2017 Kidapawan jail siege (suspected involvement) * May

2017 Bohol clashes The 2017 Bohol clashes were armed conflicts that took place in April and May 2017 between Philippine security forces and Moro ISIL-affiliated militants led by members of the Abu Sayyaf in Inabanga, Bohol, Philippines. Three Philippine Army soldi ...

* May 2017

Battle of Marawi The siege of Marawi ( fil, Pagkubkob sa Marawi), also known as the Marawi crisis (), and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government security ...

Related terrorist incidents

2014 Bukidnon bus bombing The 2014 Bukidnon bus bombing occurred on December 9, 2014 when a bomb hit a bus just in front of the main entrance of Central Mindanao University along Sayre Highway in Sitio Musuan, Barangay Dologon, Maramag, Bukidnon. The blast killed at leas ...

(suspected involvement of BIFF) *

2016 Davao City bombing A bombing at a night market occurred in Davao City, Philippines, on September 2, 2016, causing at least 14 deaths and 70 injuries. On September 13, 2016, one of those injured, a pregnant woman, died, bringing the death toll up to 15. Militant ...

(suspected involvement of

Maute Group The Maute group ( or ), also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, was a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters led by Omar Maute, the alleged founder of a ''Dawlah Islamiya'', o ...

) *

2018 Isulan bombings The Isulan bombing was an act of Islamic terrorism by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the municipality of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, which killed 3 and injured over 36 in a town festival. August 28 bombing The bombing occurred on 28 August ...

(suspected involvement of BIFF) *

2018 Lamitan bombing On July 31, 2018, a bomb exploded in the town of Lamitan in Basilan, Philippines. Incident A white van carrying explosives was asked to stop at the Magkawit detachment, a security checkpoint situated at the converging boundaries of barangays Bulan ...

(suspected involvement of

)

Public opinion on ISIL

In a poll conducted between February 16 to May 8, 2017, the

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...

says that 70% among the Filipinos questioned view ISIL as a major threat to the Philippines ahead of

global climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

(65%) and

cyberattacks A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

(64%).

Casualties

The chart below gives the information of casualties since the jihadist groups respectively pledged allegiance to ISIS. Note: Some casualties from small-scale conflicts or terrorist incidents are not given.

References

{{portalbar, Philippines Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Philippines