ISIS-K

The Khorosan Group is a supposed terrorist faction active in Syria. "Khorosan" is the name of an Iranian province that borders Afghanistan. According to a supposed Muslim saying:

If you see the black banners coming from Khorasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl over ice; no power will be able to stop them. And they will finally reach Baitul Maqdis [Jerusalem], where they will erect their flags.

On Sept. 18, 2014, U.S. officials announced that the Air Force was bombing the "Khorosan Group," a previously unknown faction. It was claimed that this group was planning terrorist action against the U.S. Mushin al-Fadhli, leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, was reportedly killed in the bombing. Al-Nusra is an al-Qaeda affiliate active in Syria. The administration may have created the name "Khorosan Group" for obscure reasons. The term apparently refers to a group of twenty to fifty al-Qaeda members in Syria, possibly an elite unit. (It should be noted that "al-Qaeda" is also a name created by the U.S. intelligence community.) "But you have heard of the Khorasan group before. It is, to put it simply, al Qaeda," according to Thomas Joscelyn of the Weekly Standard.