Islamic State (ISIS) in 2026: is it still active?

The short answer. Islamic State, also called ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, is a Sunni jihadist group that declared a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and lost its last land in 2019.⁸ As of October 2026 it is still active: it attacked in 15 countries in 2025, and the Institute for Economics and Peace again ranked it the world's deadliest terrorist group. It is weaker at the centre, with its leaders scattered and being killed, but its African provinces are growing.¹

Key facts #

• In 2025 Islamic State and its provinces carried out 488 attacks in 15 countries, nearly 17% of all attacks worldwide, though that was 15% fewer attacks than in 2024.¹
• The group's attacks in sub-Saharan Africa almost doubled in 2025, from 111 to 221, while its attacks in the Middle East and North Africa fell by 39%.¹
• The United Nations Monitoring Team said in August 2026 that Islamic State kept up to 3,000 fighters, mostly in Syria, and was "at a lower ebb" because of leadership problems and sustained pressure.³
• The group named Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as its leader on 3 August 2023. As of July 2025 the UN said the group had not officially confirmed who he is.^{7 4}
• In Syria, Islamic State attacks on government forces rose from 16 in all of 2025 to 52 in the first half of 2026, according to the conflict monitor ACLED.²
• Its deputy leader, Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, was killed on 16 May 2026 in Borno State, Nigeria, in a joint Nigerian and US operation.³
• Yemen's government said on 1 September 2026 that its forces and Saudi special forces had killed the group's spokesman, Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari. Islamic State had not confirmed it.⁹
• After Syria closed al-Hawl camp on 22 February 2026, between 15,000 and 20,000 people linked to the group, mostly women and children, were unaccounted for.³
• Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) has about 2,000 fighters and was in a "rebuilding phase" in 2026.^{3 5}

What is ISIS, and what does the name mean? #

ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The same group is called ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), Islamic State (IS), and Daesh, from an Arabic acronym. The British proscription list names all of these for one organisation.¹⁰

The Institute for Economics and Peace calls it a Salafi-jihadist group whose core mission is a caliphate and which attacks Shia, minority sects and anyone who does not follow its version of Islam.¹ It began as an al-Qaeda affiliate and later became independent.¹ The US State Department has listed it since December 2004 as "ISIS (formerly al-Qa'ida in Iraq)".¹¹

In 2014 it seized large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate. At its height that territory spanned a third of Iraq and Syria. Kurdish-led forces announced its end at Baghouz, Syria, on 23 March 2019.⁸ The idea behind the caliphate is covered in our guide to the caliphate.

Is ISIS still active in 2026? #

Yes. It is smaller and more scattered than in 2015, but it still kills people on four continents. The UN team's August 2026 report says the overall threat was "broadly unchanged" but intensifying in the Sahel and South Asia.³

Three things shaped 2026:

• Syria. Syria's government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa joined the Global Coalition against Islamic State on 10 November 2025.⁶ Also, the Kurdish-led SDF collapsed in the north-east, US troops left, and, IEP says, more than 20,000 people linked to the group escaped from detention in early 2026.¹ At least 150 fighters, about 20 of them senior, escaped from Shaddadah prison, and some Member States thought more than 1,000 of the missing from al-Hawl may have joined armed groups.³
• Iran war. Both Islamic State and al-Qaeda tried to use the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on 28 February 2026, to recruit. Islamic State told followers to attack Shia communities.³
• A new phase. The group announced a new phase of operations in Syria in late February 2026.¹
• Attacks on the new government. ACLED counted 70 Islamic State attacks in Syria in the first half of 2026, 52 of them on government forces and 5 on the SDF. In 2025, by contrast, 203 of its 274 recorded events in Syria had targeted the SDF. On 15 June 2026 two fighters in explosive vests attacked Raqqa's police headquarters, killing two officers.²

Its spokesman admitted in February that the last two years had been "drenched in blood". The UN adds that the group's propaganda and ability to incite violence "remained potent".³

Who is the ISIS leader today? #

The leader is Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, but nobody outside the group can say for certain who he is. He was named on 3 August 2023, after the previous leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, was killed in a fight with HTS fighters in Syria, the group said.⁷ "Qurashi" means "of the Quraysh", Muhammad's tribe, so it is a claim of descent rather than a surname.

Where are the Islamic State provinces in Africa? #

Africa is now Islamic State's centre of gravity. The UN and the Global Terrorism Index both describe a shift of effort from the Middle East to the Sahel, Nigeria and Central Africa.^{3 1}

See our guide to jihadism in Africa for the full picture, including al-Qaeda's rival JNIM.

What is Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K)? #

Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, is the branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan, named after an old term for the region. The UN estimated about 2,000 fighters in late 2025, many of them from Central Asia, and said its strength was largely unchanged in 2026.^{5 3}

The UN calls it the greatest threat to the Taliban authorities, and it has repeatedly attacked Shia Muslims, especially the Hazara minority. In January 2026 it claimed a suicide bombing at a Chinese restaurant in Kabul that killed 12. On 6 February 2026 a suicide bomber killed 32 people at a Shia mosque in Islamabad; a group calling itself IS in Pakistan claimed it, and the UN thought ISIS-K likely carried it out.³

Its reach goes beyond the region. ISIS-K claimed the Abbey Gate bombing at Kabul airport on 26 August 2021, which killed 13 US service members and about 160 Afghans.¹³ It claimed full responsibility for the Crocus City Hall massacre near Moscow in March 2024, which killed 149 people.¹⁴ Europol says ISIS-K "remained resilient" and links it to several plots in Europe.¹⁵ See also the Taliban and Pakistan.

Is Islamic State a threat in the West? #

Yes, but mostly through lone individuals inspired online, not through directed cells. The UN calls the threat in Europe and North America "contained but persistent" and says four attacks happened in its reporting period, three of them by people with earlier terrorism convictions.³ A dozen plots were disrupted.

Recent cases:

• United States, 12 March 2026. A former National Guard member who had been convicted of supporting ISIL shot dead one person at Old Dominion University, Virginia. Five days earlier two Pennsylvania teenagers tried to detonate bombs at a protest in New York.³
• Berlin, 25 July 2026. One woman died and 29 were injured near a Pride event. The suspect had been convicted in May of trying to join Islamic State and had been released from custody.¹⁶
• 2025. A truck attack in New Orleans killed 14; the FBI said the attacker acted alone and was inspired by Islamic State (see the US guide), and a synagogue attack in Manchester where the attacker pledged allegiance to the group.^{1 17}

Europol counted 347 jihadist arrests in the EU in 2025. Of those, 108 were of people aged 18 or younger.¹⁵ Our guides cover attacks in Europe, the UK, Australia and the United States.

Who are Islamic State's victims, and who fights it? #

Mostly Muslims and mostly in the Middle East and Africa. The Global Terrorism Index says civilians were nearly two-thirds of the deaths it attributes to Islamic State.¹ The group massacred Shia cadets at Camp Speicher in Iraq in 2014; Human Rights Watch put the toll at up to 1,700.¹⁸ A UN panel concluded that it was committing genocide against the Yazidis.¹⁹

Muslims have also opposed it. In September 2014, 126 Muslim scholars published an open letter refuting its theology point by point.²⁰ In 2015, Pew found that no more than 15% of people in any Muslim-majority country polled had a favourable view of it, while 94% in Jordan and 99% in Lebanon, of those giving an opinion, viewed it unfavourably.²¹ Islamic State claims to speak for Islam. Most Muslims reject that claim.

Is Islamic State banned? #

Yes. The UK proscribed it in June 2014. Australia listed it on 11 July 2014, having listed its earlier form, al-Qaeda in Iraq, in 2005. The US has listed it since 2004, and has also listed its provinces, among them ISIS-K (2016), ISIS-West Africa (2018) and ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique (2021).^{10 11 12} The full table is in our guide to Islamist terrorist groups.

Questions people ask #

What does ISIS stand for? #

ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The group is also called ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), Islamic State or IS, and Daesh, from an Arabic acronym. They are all names for the same organisation, which the British government lists under all these names as one proscribed group.

Is ISIS still active in 2026? #

Yes. Islamic State carried out 488 attacks in 15 countries in 2025 and is still the world's deadliest terrorist group, according to the Global Terrorism Index. The UN says it has up to 3,000 fighters in Syria alone. It has lost most of its senior leaders but is growing in West Africa, the Sahel and Central Africa.

Who is the leader of ISIS now? #

Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, named in August 2023. His real identity is unconfirmed, and UN member states disagree about who he is. His deputy, Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, was killed in Nigeria in May 2026, and Yemen says its forces killed the spokesman, Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari, on 1 September 2026.

What is ISIS-K? #

ISIS-K is Islamic State Khorasan Province, the branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has about 2,000 fighters, fights the Taliban, and attacks Shia Muslims. It claimed the 2021 Kabul airport bombing and the 2024 Moscow concert hall massacre. The UN described it in 2026 as rebuilding its capacity for rare but deadly attacks.

Where is ISIS strongest in 2026? #

In Syria, where it has up to 3,000 fighters, and in Africa. Its most active branch is Islamic State West Africa Province in Nigeria and the Lake Chad area. Other strong branches are in the Sahel (Niger and Mali), the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique. Afghanistan's ISIS-K is smaller but dangerous.

Is Islamic State growing in Syria? #

Its attacks there are fewer than at its peak but have shifted towards the government. The conflict monitor ACLED counted 52 Islamic State attacks on Syrian government forces in the first half of 2026, against 16 in all of 2025. The UN still describes the group as being at a lower ebb overall.

How did ISIS lose its caliphate? #

A coalition led by the US, with Iraqi forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, took back its cities, including Mosul in 2017 and Raqqa. The Syrian Democratic Forces announced the capture of its last bastion, Baghouz in eastern Syria, on 23 March 2019. The group went underground and returned to insurgency.

Related guides #

• Islamist terrorism: the global picture: the hub for all our terrorism guides.
• Islamist terrorist groups: the main groups and how the UK, US and Australia list them.
• Global Terrorism Index 2026: the numbers behind the group rankings.
• Al-Qaeda: Islamic State's older rival and its affiliates.
• Jihadism in Africa: the Sahel, Nigeria, Somalia and Mozambique.
• The caliphate: what the idea means and who still pursues it.
• Radicalisation: how people are drawn into groups like Islamic State.
• Countering extremism: what works against Islamist violence and ideology.
• Hezbollah and Iran: the Shia axis that Islamic State treats as an enemy.
• Islamist terrorism and migration: what the data shows on attackers' backgrounds.

Cite as: The Analyst, "Islamic State (ISIS) in 2026: Leader, Strength, Threat", Fighting Islamists, updated 27 October 2026. https://fightingislamists.com/islamic-state.html

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