State of Terror

A collection of articles on how ISIS took over a region the size of the UK, sparked a humanitarian crisis, and developed into a global threat.   With coordinated attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian passenger plane, the Islamic State (ISIS) declared war on the wider world, galvanizing new calls for an intensified global response.   The Washington Post spent a year tracking the political and military spread of ISIS—investigating its roots and chronicling what life is really like for the people under its rule. Kevin Sullivan, a senior correspondent for the paper, conducted a series of interviews, often in secret, with people who have fled the "Caliphate." Other correspondents, including Souad Mekhennet and Loveday Morris, spoke with those still inside. What they discovered is that, while world leaders watched, the Islamic State instituted a brutal, tiered society, in which the faithful are given control, in which women are in constant danger, and wherein dissent is met with swift and deadly retribution.   This is the inside story of how ISIS combined the bloodiest aspects of religion, terrorism and statehood and became a global threat.