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The Islamic State group erupted from the chaos of Syria and Iraq's conflicts and swiftly did what no Islamic militant group had done before, conquering a giant stretch of territory and declaring itself a "caliphate".
Its territorial rule, which at its height in 2014 stretched across nearly a third of both Syria and Iraq, ended with a last stand by several hundred of its militants at a tiny Syrian village on the banks of the Euphrates near the border with Syria.
Here are the key moments in the rise and fall of the Islamic State group:
April 2013 - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, announces the merger of his group with al-Qaida's franchise in Syria, forming the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and expanding his reach into neighboring Syria.
2014
January - Al-Baghdadi's forces overrun the city of Fallujah in Iraq's western Anbar province and parts of the nearby provincial capital of Ramadi. In Syria, they seize sole control of the city of Raqqa after driving out rival Syrian rebel factions, and it becomes their de facto capital.
February - Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri disavows al-Baghdadi after the Iraqi militant ignores his demands that IS leave Syria.
June - ISIS captures Mosul, Iraqi's second-largest city, and pushes south as Iraqi forces crumble, eventually capturing Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and reaching the outskirts of Baghdad. When they threaten Shi'ite holy sites, Iraq's top Shiite cleric issues a call to arms, and masses of volunteers, largely backed and armed by Iran, join militias.
June 29 - The group renames itself the Islamic State and declares the establishment of a self-styled "caliphate", a traditional model of Islamic rule, in its territories in Iraq and Syria. Al-Baghdadi is declared the caliph.
July 4 - Al-Baghdadi makes his first public appearance, delivering a Friday sermon in Mosul's historic al-Nuri Mosque. He urges Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader.
August — ISIS captures the town of Sinjar west of Mosul and begins a systematic slaughter of the tiny Yazidi religious community. Women and girls are kidnapped as sex slaves; hundreds remain missing to this day.
August 8 - The US launches its campaign of airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq.
September 22 - The US-led coalition begins an aerial campaign against ISIS in Syria.
2015
January - Iraqi Kurdish fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes, drive ISIS out of several towns north of Mosul. In Syria, Kurdish fighters backed by US airstrikes repel an ISIS onslaught on the town of Kobani on the border with Turkey, the first significant defeat for ISIS.
April 1 - US-backed Iraqi forces retake Tikrit, their first major victory against ISIS.
May 20 - ISIS captures the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra, where the extremists later destroy archaeological treasures.
2016
February 9 - Iraqi forces recapture Ramadi after months of fighting and at enormous cost, with thousands of buildings destroyed. Almost the entire population fled the city.
June 26 - Fallujah is declared liberated by Iraqi forces after a five-week battle.
July 3 - ISIS sets off a gigantic suicide truck bomb outside a Baghdad shopping mall, killing almost 300 people, the deadliest attack in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.
October 17 - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announces the start of the operation to liberate Mosul.
October 21 - ISIS militants and sleeper cells stage a wave of attacks with suicide blasts in the central Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing at least 80 people in an attempt to divert attention from Mosul.
November 5 - The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launch Operation Euphrates Wrath, the first of five operations aiming to retake Raqqa, starting with an encircling of the city.
2017
January 24 - Al-Abadi announces eastern Mosul has been "fully liberated".
February 19 - Iraqi forces begin the assault on western Mosul, taking the city's airport and nearby military base within four days.
May 10 - SDF captures the strategic Tabqa dam after weeks of battles and a major airlift operation that brought SDF fighters and their US advisers to the area. The fall of the dam facilitated the push on Raqqa, about 40km away.
June 6 - SDF fighters begin an attack on Raqqa from three sides, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes.
June 18 - Iraqi forces launch battle for Mosul's Old City, the last ISIS stronghold there.
June 21 - ISIS destroys Mosul's iconic al-Nuri Mosque and its 12th century leaning minaret as Iraqi forces close in, according to Iraqi and coalition officials.
July 10 - Iraqi prime minister declares victory over ISIS in Mosul and end of the extremists' caliphate in Iraq.
October 17 - SDF takes full control of Raqqa after months of heavy bombardment that devastates the city.
September-December - Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power and Iranian forces, recapture ISIS territory on the western bank of the Euphrates River, seizing the cities of Deir el-Zour, Mayadin and Boukamal on the border with Iraq.
2018
August 23 - ISIS leader al-Baghdadi resurfaces in his first purported audio recording in almost a year; he urges followers to "persevere" and continue fighting.
September 10 - SDF launches a ground offensive, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, to take the last territory held by ISIS in Syria's eastern province of Deir el-Zour.
2019
February-March - SDF besiege ISIS in the village of Baghouz, the last scrap of land the group holds. The advance stalls as some 30 000 civilians, mostly families of ISIS members, are evacuated from the pocket over the course of weeks.
March 23 - SDF declares the complete capture of Baghouz and the end of the Islamic State group's territorial "caliphate".
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