Q: Politicians and the media report things happening with both ISIS and ISIL. What is the difference between these groups? Or are they the same group with different names?
—Chuck Fenske, Cumming
A: ISIS and ISIL are the same group, but are called different names by media organizations and governmental agencies.
The United Nations and U.S. State Department refer to the group as ISIL, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
President Barack Obama also uses ISIL.
The media use a combination of names, including ISIL; ISIS, which is short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria; the Islamic State, or IS; and the Islamic State group.
The Associated Press, which sets rules and style for many media outlets, changed in September 2014 from using ISIL to Islamic State group.
That was in response to ISIL (or ISIS) changing its name to the Islamic State, but the AP added “group” to the name to keep ISIL from sounding like an “internationally recognized state,” the AP wrote in an article explaining the change.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and French President Francois Hollande, among others, have used the term Daesh for the group.
Daesh is an Arabic acronym for its official name of Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham, but can be considered an insult.
The Islamic State group threatened to cut out the tongues of people in Mosul, Iraq, who said Daesh in public, the AP reported last year.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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