Security and intelligence expert Martin Reardon has described ISIL 's purpose as being to psychologically " break " those under its control , " ... so as to ensure their absolute allegiance through fear and intimidation , " while generating , " ... outright hate and vengeance " among its enemies . Jason Burke , a journalist writing on Salafi jihadism , has written that ISIL 's goal is to " terrorize , mobilize and polarize " . Its efforts to terrorise are intended to intimidate civilian populations and force governments of the target enemy " to make rash decisions that they otherwise would not choose " . It aims to mobilise its supporters by motivating them with , for example , spectacular deadly attacks deep in Western territory ( such as the November 2015 Paris attacks ) , to polarise by driving Muslim populations – particularly in the West – away from their governments , thus increasing the appeal of ISIL 's self-proclaimed caliphate among them , and to : " Eliminate neutral parties through either absorption or elimination " . Journalist Rukmini Maria Callimachi also emphasises ISIL 's interest in polarization or in eliminating what it calls the " grey zone " between the black ( non-Muslims ) and white ( ISIL ) . " The gray is moderate Muslims who are living in the West and are happy and feel engaged in the society here . " A work published online in 2004 entitled '' Management of Savagery '' ( '' Idarat at Tawahoush '' ) , described by several media outlets as influential on ISIL and intended to provide a strategy to create a new Islamic caliphate , recommended a strategy of attack outside its territory in which fighters would , " Diversify and widen the vexation strikes against the Crusader-Zionist enemy in every place in the Islamic world , and even outside of it if possible , so as to disperse the efforts of the alliance of the enemy and thus drain it to the greatest extent possible . " The group has been accused of attempting to " bolster morale " and distract attention from its loss of territory to enemies by staging terror attacks abroad ( such as the 6 June 2017 attacks on Tehran , the 22 May 2017 bombing in Manchester , UK , and the 3 June 2017 attacks in London that ISIL claimed credit for )
6 June 2017 attacks on Tehran
2017 Tehran attacks
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant