Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they first became aware of the development and growth of ISIL in Syria before its incursion into Iraq.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) grew out of Al Qaida in Iraq [AQ-I] which has been operating there since 2003.

Press reporting from 2012 stated that AQ-I fighters were travelling over the border into Syria as the country emerged as the primary “jihadi theatre.” But ISIL’s presence in Syria was publicly announced by a declaration from Al Qaida in Iraq (AQ-I) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of its merger with Al Nusrah Front (ANF) in April 2013. The merger was subsequently rejected by the ANF.