Originally Posted by Danny42C
Stiil, small voice:
"ISIS seems to have turned into ISIL overnight. What might this signify ?" 
It means that the press & politicians pulled their heads out and finally began referring to ISIL by the correct acronym - as some have been doing from day one.
Its been interesting to switch between national network news shows in the US and hear one anchor refer to ISIS and on the other network the anchor telling the same story about ISIL.
The al-Qaeda offshoot is confusingly known by three names: Islamic State, ISIS and ISIL – but a terrorism expert says they have got their branding spot on.
The murderous group, which now has around 50,000 fighters in Syria and 30,000 in Iraq according to August 2014 figures from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, until recently used the full Arabic name Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham - the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
In June, the terror group declared a caliphate - an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader - and began using the simplified name 'Islamic State'.
News organisations, presidents, prime ministers and other world leaders are currently using a mixture of three different names to reference the organisation which is essentially one movement.
The name ISIS – the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - is used by American news organisations such as the New York Times and L.A. Times.
International publications such as The Guardian also use ISIS and the BBC uses a combination of ISIS and Islamic State.
In a recent report condemning the group, the United Nations referred to the group as ISIS and by its original name.
‘Forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham have committed torture, murder, acts tantamount to enforced disappearance and forced displacement as part of attacks on the civilian population in Aleppo and Raqqa provinces, amounting to crimes against humanity,’ it said.
The U.S. government, including President Obama, the Pentagon, and the State Department, uses ISIL which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The group has used this name because it aspires to control what used to be the historic region called the Levant. This area includes Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and an area in southern Turkey that includes Hatay.
However, the Islamic State’s ambitions are now even wider – it wants to bring much of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its direct political control.
The Australian government, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, also refers to the group as ISIL.
Similarly the UK government and Prime Minister David Cameron use ISIL.
Dr Aly said whether you use ISIL, ISIS or Islamic State is neither ‘here nor there’ but the fact they are calling themselves an Islamic State is important.
‘It is significant because what they are trying to create is a state that does not recognise the previous borders of Iraq or Syria. To say Islamic state is to symbolically say “we have created one state that does not respect the borders”.
The first time I heard any of them it was ISIL - which makes sense.
Adding Syria makes no sense, as that was already covered - adding Iraq expanded their territorial ambitions.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...ing-terrorists
ISIL, ISIS – Now QSIS? Top Sunni Cleric Says Stop Calling Terrorists ‘Islamic’
August 25, 2014 - 4:25 AM
(CNSNews.com) – Stand by for a new acronym for the ISIS/ISIL terrorist group causing havoc across Syria and Iraq.
One of the Arab world’s top Sunni authorities launched a campaign Sunday urging media to drop all names for the group that incorporate the word “Islamic,” in favor of “al-Qaeda separatists in Iraq and Syria” (QSIS).
Dar al-Iftaa (“the House of Fatwas”) in Cairo, headed by Egyptian grand mufti Shawki Ibrahim Allam, has launched an Internet-based campaign aimed at distancing Islam from the group known variously as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, or simply Islamic State.
The 119-year-old Cairo institution, which issues fatwas or religious rulings on a wide range of topics, said it hoped Muslims and non-Muslims would actively support the campaign, “which does not only seek to exonerate the name of Islam from the terrorist group’s heinous acts but also to condemn these dreadful acts under the name of humanity.”