France Insists on New Name For “ISIL” Extremists: Daesh

France’s foreign minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday that people should stop referring to extremists in Iraq and Syria as the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” [ISIL], arguing that they do not represent Islam or a state.

Fabius referred to the group as “Daesh,” the acronym in Arabic for its full former name, “the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.”

Speaking to lawmakers, Fabius said, “The determination of the Daesh butchers is strong. Ours must be even stronger.”

“The terrorist group in question is not a state and is making it a gift to call it a state,” Fabius said.
Daesh renamed itself the so-called “Islamic State” as it declared an Islamic “caliphate” earlier this year after conquering large parts of Iraq.