The term ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has become a common word in newsrooms and on news broadcasts over the past few months as the group it describes continues to occupy large areas of land in Iraq and Syria. Yet, when the U.S. government describes this group, they use the acronym ISIL, or Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. What is the difference and which is correct?
Let's start with the actual name of the group. In Arabic, it is الدولة الاسلامية في العراق والشام, or al-dawlat al-islamiyah fil-'iraq wal-sham. That translates to "the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham." Even the Arabic-language media uses an acronym* using the first letters of the Arabic words - داعش, or da'ish.
In the discussion of ISIS versus ISIL, it is the translation of the Arabic word al-Sham that becomes problematic.
Al-Sham can be translated in several ways, depending on context. It can mean the city of Damascus, the country of Syria or the area also known as "greater Syria" or the Levant. In the past, the Levant included the island of Cyprus and what are now the countries of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories (West Bank and the Gaza Strip), and part of southern Turkey.
Today, it is generally accepted as referring to the area that comprises the countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Although the translation of al-Sham as "the Levant" (and thus ISIL) is technically more accurate, for the purposes of describing this group, I prefer to use the more generic "Syria" (and thus ISIS), since that appears to be everyone's focus at this time. That does not change the group's larger goal.
On a lighter note - the Syrian-Iranian car company
A Syrian state-owned company and an Iranian public company are jointly manufacturing a car in Syria - the car is based on a Peugeot design.
Having lived in Syria for a few years, cars are an interesting issue. Prior to the mid-1990's, it was almost impossible to import a car as a private citizen. When restrictions were relaxed, cars imported into Syria carried a 100 percent duty. An indigenously produced car will certainly find a market and replace many of the antique cars kept running only by creative repairs by innovative Syrian mechanics.
Although it will not be a problem in Syria, and the is not marketed in the English-speaking countries, they have decided to name the car with the old name for Syria and the Syrian dialect word for Damascus - the Sham.
I hope the car is well-built and easily repaired, since accidents are quite common, and the mandatory state-owned insurance coverage is basically worthless. My wife was in a fender-bender - when I translated the police report, the other driver, who was clearly at fault, claimed that the accident was the will of Allah. The police accepted that and it was the official cause of the accident.
The Sham - going on sale next month. From the people who brought you Hizballah.
* Although acronyms are not as common in Arabic as they are in English, they do exist. The most common one in the media is HAMAS, an acronym for حركة المقاومة الاسلامية, harakat al-muqawamah al-islamiyah, or the Islamic Resistance Movement.
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