Fighters in Syria and Iraq have announced the establishment of a “caliphate.” Caliphate system of administration had ended nearly 100 years ago.

The system had fallen with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In an audio recording distributed online on Sunday, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) declared its chief Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi as “the new caliph” and “leader of all Muslims in the world.”

Baghdadi is believed to be the leader of ISIL, which announced that it is now called “The Islamic State”. According to the news statement, the new caliphate stretches from Iraq’s Diyala province to Syria’s Aleppo.

“The Shura (council) of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue (of the caliphate). The Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims,” said ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

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