A stormtrooper is a fictional soldier in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Introduced in Star Wars (1977), the stormtroopers are the main ground force of the Galactic Empire, under the leadership of Emperor Palpatine and his commanders, most notably Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin. In The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), the upgraded stormtroopers serve the First Order, under the leadership of Supreme Leader Snoke and his commanders, most notably Kylo Ren, General Hux, and Captain Phasma. The order of battle of the Stormtrooper Corps is unspecified in the Star Wars universe. Accompanying the Imperial Navy, stormtroopers are able to be deployed swiftly and respond to states of civil unrest or insurrection, act as a planetary garrison, and police areas within the Galactic Empire. They are shown in collective groups of varying organizational sizes ranging from squads to legions and for some, their armor and training are modified for special operations and environments.
The core of the territory of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was from 2014 until November 2017 in Iraq and Syria, where the organization controlled significant swathes of urban, rural, and desert territory. ISIL also controls land in Afghanistan as well as Nigeria, and used to control land in Libya, the Philippines, Egypt, Yemen, possibly Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[10] The group also has insurgent cells in Jammu & Kashmir, Algeria, Iraq, Pakistan, Tunisia, the Caucasus, and Saudi Arabia that do not control territory. As of September 2018, ISIL controlled only 200 square miles (520 km2) of territory in Iraq and Syria, according to the US-led coalition against ISIL. However, this estimate referred only to the Euphrates region and disregarded a large ISIL pocket remaining in the Syrian Desert. By late March 2019, ISIL territory in Syria was reduced to only the besieged 1,550 square miles (4,000 km2) central desert pocket. The enclave was surrounded by Syrian government forces and its allies. The Syrian military conducted combing operations and airstrikes against the pocket, but with limited success. In early 2017, ISIL controlled approximately 45,377 square kilometers (17,520 square miles) of territory in Iraq and Syria and 7,323 km2 of territory elsewhere, for a total of 52,700 square kilometres (20,300 sq mi). This represents a substantial decline from the group's territorial peak in late 2014, when it controlled between 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi) and 110,000 square kilometres (42,000 sq mi) of territory in total. ISIL's territory has declined substantially in almost every country since 2014, a result of the group's unpopularity and the military action taken against it. ISIL propaganda claims a peak territorial extent of 282,485 km2. The majority of ISIL-controlled territory, though much-diminished, continues to be in eastern Syria, in addition to isolated pockets elsewhere in the country. The majority of the terrorist group's territory, population, revenue, and prestige came from the territory it held in Iraq and Syria. In Afghanistan, ISIL mostly controls territory near the Pakistan border and has lost 87% of its territory since spring 2015. In Libya, the group has lost nearly 100% of its territory, and as of 2017 controls only a handful of villages and neighborhoods. In Egypt, the group controls 910 km2 of land centered around the village of Sheikh Zuweid, which represents less than 1% of Egypt's territory. In Nigeria, Boko Haram (at the time an ISIL affiliate) controlled 6,041 km2 of territory at its maximum extent in 2014, though most of this area was lost amid military reversals and a split within Boko Haram between pro- and anti-ISIL factions.(WiKi)
