Timeline of the Islamic State and Australasia

This is a timeline of Islamic State activities related to Australia and New Zealand, collectively known as Australasia.
The events below include terrorist and extremist activities of Islamic State supporters in Australia and New Zealand, Australians and New Zealanders who travelled overseas to join the Islamic State or attempted to, and depictions of Australians and New Zealand in Islamic State propaganda on social media and in I.S. state media. It also includes Australia and New Zealand's military and intelligence involvement in the war against the Islamic State.
The most deadly terrorist attack on Australian soil was the Islamic State-inspired 2025 Bondi Beach shooting, committed by Naveed Akram and his father Sajid Akram, targeting Jewish Australians at a Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach.
Before this, several Islamic State plots were successfully thwarted by Australian intelligence and law enforcement bodies.

Background

Islamic State

The Islamic State movement self-describe as "Islamic" but their religious beliefs are an unusual derivative of Islam, that has been rejected by the vast majority of Muslims, including Islamic terrorists and Islamic extremists.
Progressive and conservative Muslims alike describe the ideology of the Islamic State as "deviant".
The Islamic State excommunicate other Muslims, calling them infidels or apostates.
Islamic State militants violently oppose – and are violently opposed by – many of the groups that are listed terrorist organisations in Australia's Criminal Code, Such as al-Qaeda,
the PKK, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran's IRGC.
Some of their most deadly attacks have been against Shia Muslims, including civilian and military targets in Iran, a Shia-led Islamic Republic. Iran charges Islamic State militants with "waging war against God" and [Assassination and Assassination and terrorism in Iran|terrorism in Iran|terrorism] against civilians, among other crimes.
The ideology of the Islamic State rejects the concept of nation-states and cultural identity.
Followers of the Islamic State ideology, including in Sydney, have no interest in recognition of rival states. Symbols such as national flags are shuned by the movement. One violent manifestation of this opposition to nationalism is the active armed conflict between Islamic State's Khorasan "Province" and the Taliban in Central Asia, whom ISK ridicule as "filthy nationalists".

Australian migrants to the Islamic State

Prior to the Bondi attack, one of the most significant Islamic State-related problems faced by the Australian government were the family members of Islamic State fighters from Australia, who remain in detention camps in the Middle East, in Kurdistan and neighbouring regions.
ASIO estimates that over 200 Australians migrated to the unrecognised state / illegitimate Caliphate founded by the Islamic State movement while they controlled territory in Iraq and Syria.
Young boys who have been there nearly a decade are transferred to the menz prison when they reach military age.
The survivors are mostly widows and children, most of the men died of the battlefield or were killed in targeted strikes.
Young boys who have been there nearly a decade are transferred to the menz prison when they reach military age.
The are also a few remaining Islamic State fighters from Australia who have been confirmed alive or remain unaccounted for.
The Australian Government have been criticised for treating the ongoing situation as somebody else's problem.

Before 2013

The Islamic State arrose as an offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq during the war on terror.

2001

11 September 2001 – The war on terror began with al Qaeda's attack on the The Pentagon, New York City's World Trade Center, and an unknown fourthtarget, The attack was in retaliation for United States involvement in the MiddleEast. However, Australian Prime Minister John Howard saw the attack, as "completely unprovoked" and "an attack on our way of life". However quickly offered Australia's support for the war in accordance with the ANZUStreaty.

2002

2002 – Al Qaeda-backed militants carry out the bombings targeting Australian tourists in Bali, Indonesia, killing 88 Australians and 38 locals, and 202 people in total. The attack, carried out in response to Australian actions in the US-led war on terror. This remains the deadliest terror attack in Australian history, albeit in a neighbouring country. It was a mass casualty event, overwhelming local hospitals and requiring many victims to be evacuated to hospitals in Australia, with assistance from Australia's defence force.

2003

Australia, alongside only the United Kingdom and Poland, joins the United States invasion of Iraq.

2013 to 2019

2013

8 April 2013 – After expanding into Syria, the group Islamic State of Iraq adopts the name Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

2014

The Islamic State group form in Iraq and begin their conquest of Iraq and Syria.
April 2014 – Sabina Selimovic and Samra Kesinovic go missing.
July 2014 – The Islamic State declare a Caliphate, and announce this on Twitter and elsewhere online. The Caliphate's physical territory is in Iraq and Syria, and they proclaimed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the Caliph. Their Caliphate is rejected almost immediately by mainstream Muslims, in the Letter to Baghdadi and a wide variety of other public statements.
23 September 2014 – 2014 Endeavour Hills stabbings: Two counter-terrorism police officers stabbed. Perpetrator shot dead.
18 September 2014 – The Australian Federal Police, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Queensland Police and New South Wales Police launched the largest counterterrorism operation in Australian history. The targets were IS-linked networks thought to be planning to launch mass-casualty attacks in populated areas. Fifteen people were arrested in the raids with one being charged with terrorism offenses.
3 October 2014 – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that Australia would contribute eight F/A-18F Super Hornets to aid the war effort against Islamic extremists in Iraq. The aircraft join a KC-30A Tanker and an E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft already deployed.
29 October 2014 – Australian IS leader and recruiter Mohammad Ali Baryalei was confirmed to have been killed.
15 December 2014 – Lindt Cafe siege: in Sydney, by Man Haron Monis. Allegedly an IS supporter who pledged allegiance to the group held 18 hostages at a café at the APA Building in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia. One hostage was murdered during the siege and one killed by a bullet ricochet from a police officer during the subsequent raid. Perpetrator shot dead by police during raid.

2015

11 March 2015 – Jake Bilardi killed himself in a truck bombing against the Iraqi army, after migrating to Iraq to join an ISIS-affiliated group.
20 April 2015 – An 18-year-old from New Zealand joins IS and is reported missing. New Zealand and Australia are concerned about IS-related terrorism at Anzac day.
9 September 2015 – Joshua Ryne Goldberg, a Jewish American internet troll, was arrested for planning a bombing in Kansas City while posing as an Australian ISIS supporter. A 17-year-old Melbourne teenager who had been in contact with Goldberg pleaded guilty to preparing a terror attack, after bombs were found in his home. Goldberg's ISIS persona also attempted to incite mass shootings in Australia. Goldberg reportedly set up a fake account in the name of Australian Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne. Goldberg also created multiple fake jihadist accounts, which interacted with the fake Thorne account, and he then sent screengrabs of the fabricated interactions to journalists, at least one of whom published the fake interaction in an article of The West Australian in April 2015. The fake jihadist personas were also used to besmirch Amnesty International and the Human Rights Law Centre by claiming that the fake jihadists had employment ties, or donated money to, these organizations.
14 September 2015 – Two Australian Hornet fighter aircraft destroyed an IS armoured personnel carrier with a precision-guided missile in east Syria.
25 November 2015 – Samra Kesinovic, an Austrian teenager who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State, is reported dead, having been beaten to death by the group after trying to escape from Raqqa. Her companion, Sabina Selimovic, was reported to have been killed in fighting in Syria in September.

2016

31 January 2016 – A prominent Australian IS member's death is reported. Neil Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, was involved in the group's online recruitment activities.
6 February 2016 – An Australian man is deported from India after Indira Gandhi International Airport security personnel reportedly find pro-IS material on his laptop.

2017

Isaac El Matari jailed in Lebanon.
By 2017 the Islamic State had lost 90% of their territory.
15 July 2017 – Failed Islamic State–linked plan to bomb an Etihad Airways flight departing Sydney for Abu Dhabi. Brothers Mahmoud and Khaled Khayat in Sydney planted a bomb in luggage belonging to their brother Amer Khayat, using parts sent to them by a forth brother, Tarek Khayat, from overseas. Amer was found not guilty, he was used as an unwitting proxy, possibly because his brothers disapproved of his drinking and other habits.

2018

August 2018 – Australia stripped the Australian citizenship from five terrorists who had travelled to fight with the Islamic State and barred them from entering Australia again. This was only possible because they had double citizenships because international law stops the measure from being used on individuals with only one citizenship. The five brought the total to six.
9 November 2018 – a man named Hassan Khalif Shire Ali went on a stabbing spree in Melbourne Australia. The attack took place on a crowded Melbourne street where he attacked and killed a police officer with a knife and light bulb. The attacker also injured two other bystanders until he was eventually killed by law enforcement. The perpetrator supported IS and IS also took responsibility for the attack.

2019

March 2019 – The Islamic State were declared "defeated" in Iraq and Syria by their opponents.
15 March 2019 – An Australian terrorist killed 51 people in the Christchurch shooting, inspired by the antisemitic Great Replacement conspiracy theory and the death of an 11-year-old girl in an ISIS attack. The Christchurch attack featured in Islamic State propaganda with Abu Hassan al-Muhajir calling for attacks on the “nations of the Cross and the apostate” in retaliation for the attack.
Youssef Uweinat was convicted of terrorism and imprisoned, for attempting to recruit minors to carry out attacks for IslamicState.

After 2019

2024

January 2024

January 2024 – A new Commonwealth offence introduced as part of amendments to Australian counter-terrorism legislation outlawing transmission of violent extremist material online. First person sentenced in March 2025.

May 2024

17 May 2024 – IS-K claimed responsibility for the 2024 Bamyan shooting in Afghanistan, in the city of Bamyan, Bamyan Province, that led to the deaths of 6 people, including 3 Spanish tourists, as well as injuring 8 people, including one Lithuanian, one Norwegian, one Australian and another Spaniard. The majority of the targeted victims were foreign tourists. In Afghanistan, the 2024 Bamyan shooting: Gunman attacked a group of Western tourists, alongside their Afghan guides, in the city of Bamyan, Bamyan Province with machine-gun fire, killing seven people, and wounding seven others before fleeing the scene. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

2025

March 2025

20 March 2025 – A 19-year old West Australian man is sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the Perth District Court on one count of transmitting violent extremist material online and one count of using a carriage service to cause offence after sharing Islamic State-produced videos that included beheadings and recordings encouraging violence. He is the first person convicted and sentenced in Australia for transmitting violent extremist material online under the new Commonwealth offence introduced in January 2024 as part of amendments to Australian counter-terrorism legislation.

August 2025

3 August 2025 - Two past supporters of Islamic State, connected to Naveed Akram in 2019, were noticed trying to exploit public protests to further a conflicting agenda. Both men were later reported as a past associate of Naveed Akram from 2019. Youssef Uweinat was imprisoned from 2019 to 2023 for terrorism-related offences, after trying to recruit 17 and 18-year-olds to pledge loyalty to the Islamic State cult, a role that some media described as an Islamic State "youth recruiter". He has since claimed to no-longer support the cult. Uweinat was photographed waving a black flag at the edges of a protest on the Harbour bridge. Both men were later reported as a past associate of Naveed Akram from 2019. William Haddad posted the flag image on social media saying, "The only flag that counts!" A report from ABC News Australia described the preacher as having "no interest in a Palestinian state" and trying to "exploit and fracture the pro-Palestinian movement".

December 2025

14 December 2025 – Bondi Beach shooting: Two ISIS inspired gunmen fired upon approximately one thousand people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. A total of 16 people were killed, including a ten-year-old child and 40 people were injured.