ABSTRACT
June 2014 was an especially important month in the history of the Islamic State (IS). It was a month which heralded the arrival, on the global stage, of a group which was largely unnoticed and understandably lost among a collection of other insurgent groups in Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State was, literally, formed in June 2014; and while precursor organizations were instrumental in its founding, it was the brazen and shockingly successful attacks in early June that elevated the Islamic State (IS) to be among the first viewed as equals in the community of Islamic extremist organizations.
