ISIL

When this organisation first started to appear in the news media, it was known as ISIS: the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Apparently the word used in Arabic for the 'Syria' part of the name is used to denote Damascus, and can also mean Greater Damascus, which is synonymous with the region that's known in English as The Levant; and that's why ISIS became ISIL (which my source – see below – describes as "the US–preferred acronym").

This information comes from a well–informed, but long–winded, article on a website called The Free Word, which also explains the origins of the name Daesh. But this is not for our Abbreviations section; for more information, please refer to the Organisations page in my General section.