Draft:Timeline

11:46, 12 January 2026

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 (a journey that was referred to by the group as hijra) 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 (detailed timeline), committed by Naveed Akram (who was charged with 15 counts of murder) and his father Sajid Akram (who was killed by police during the attack), targeting Jewish Australians at a Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beech. Before this, several Islamic State plots were successfully thwarted by Australian intelligence and law enforcement bodies.

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.^[1] Progressive and conservative Muslims alike describe the ideology of the Islamic State as "deviant".^[2][3] The Islamic State excommunicate other Muslims, calling them infidels or apostates.^[1][4]

Islamic State militants violently oppose – and are violently opposed by – many of the groups that are listed terrorist organisations in Australia's Criminal Code,^[5] Such as al-Qaeda,^[1] the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party),^[6] Hezbollah (listed since 2021),^[7] Hamas (listed since 2022),^[8] and Iran's IRGC (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, listed in November 2025).^[5]

Some of their most deadly attacks have been against Shia Muslims, including civilian and military targets in Iran, a Shia-led Islamic Republic.^[9][10] Iran charges Islamic State militants with "waging war against God" (Moharebeh) and terrorism against civilians, among other crimes.^[9][11] The ideology of the Islamic State rejects the concept of nation-states and cultural identity.^[1] Followers of the Islamic State ideology, including in Sydney, have no interest in recognition of rival states.^[12] Symbols such as national flags are shuned by the movement.^[13] One violent manifestation of this opposition to nationalism is the active armed conflict between Islamic State's Khorasan "Province" (ISK) and the Taliban in Central Asia, whom ISK ridicule as "filthy nationalists".^[14][15][16]

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.^[17] 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.^[18][17] 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.^[19][20] 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.^[18]

• 28 April 1996 – A 25-year-old gunman kills 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Australia responds by introducing extremely strict gun laws.^[21][22][23]

• 1998 – Sajid Akram, the older Bondi gunman, migrated to Australia from Hyderabad, in Southern India.^{[24][25][26][27][28]} Indian media alleged that he became distant from his family in India because they disapproved of him marrying a Christian woman in Australia.^[29]

• 2001 – Sajid Akram transferred to a partner visa, via relationship with Italian Australian partner.^[30]
• August 2001^[31] – Naveed was born in Australia to a European-Australian mother and father (Sajid) from Hyderabad (in southern India).^[32]
• 11 September 2001 – The Islamic State arose as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq during the war on terror. The war began with al Qaeda's attack on The Pentagon, New York City's World Trade Center, and an unknown fourth target, in retaliation for United States involvement in the Middle East.^[33][34][35] Australian Prime Minister John Howard (from the center-right Liberal Party) quickly brought Australia into the war, citing the ANZUS treaty.^[35][36]

• 12 October 2002 – The 2002 Bali bombings, targeting Australian tourists in neighbouring Indonesia, were the deadliest terror attack in Australian history, killing 88 Australians, 38 locals, and 202 people in total.^[37]The attack, carried out in response to Australian actions in the US-led war on terror.^[38][39]

• The Islamic State group form in Iraq and begin their conquest of Iraq and Syria.
• July 2014 – The Islamic State declare a Caliphate, and announce this on Twitter and elsewhere online.^[40][41] The Caliphate's physical territory is in Iraq and Syria, and they proclaimed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the Caliph.^[42] Their Caliphate is rejected almost immediately by mainstream Muslims, in the Letter to Baghdadi and a wide variety of other public statements.
• August 2014 – Benjamin Netanyahu begins his ongoing campaign of conflating ISIS and Hamas.^[43] Netanyahu illustrates his claim by posting ISIS propaganda to his official social media profiles, offending the family of James Foley whose beheading video was included.^[43]
• 15 December 2014 – Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney, by Man Haron Monis, an Iranian Sunmi extretmist who had sought political asylum in Australia.

• Sajid Akram first lodges a gun licence application, but it lapses without being completed.^[44][45]

• 2016 – Sajid Akram's first firearms license application lapses due to incomplete paperwork.^[46]

• Isaac El Matari jailed in Lebanon.^[47]
• By 2017 the Islamic State had lost 90% of their territory.^[48]
• 15 July 2017 – Failed Islamic State–linked plan to bomb an Etihad Airways flight departing Sydney for Abu Dhabi.^[49][50]

• March 2019 – The Islamic State were declared "defeated" in Iraq and Syria by their opponents.^[51][52][53]
• 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.^[54]
• Youssef Uweinat (an associate of Naveed) was convicted of terrorism and imprisoned, for attempting to recruit minors to carry out attacks for Islamic State.^[12][55]
• Naveed Akram was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) over his extremist links.^[56][57] The investigation occurred after a planned attack had been successfully thwarted.^[58]

• April 2020 – ASIO conclude their investigation of Naveed Akram, determining that he did not pose an "ongoing threat" or "immediate threat".^[59]
• Sajid Akram reapplies for a gun licence.^[44][60]
• 18 December 2020 – Radwan Dakkak becomes the first person convicted of "guilt by association" to other ISIS members, and sentenced to 18 months.^[61]

• January 2021 – Singaporean security services report the arrest of a youth who was planning a copycat attack on the anniversary of the 15 Match 2019 attack. The arrested youth had watched videos of the Australian terrorist's attack, read his antisemitic manifesto, and also watched ISIS propaganda. He "came to the erroneous conclusion that ISIS represented Islam, and that Islam called on its followers to kill non-believers".^[62]
• October 2021 – Isaac El Matari^[a] (one of the IS supporters who was linked to Naveed), was sentenced to over 7 years in prison for planning terrorist attacks and attempting to establish an Islamic State insurgency in Australia.^{[63][64][65][66]}

• Sajid Akram's gun licence is granted.^[44] Over the course of two years, Sajid Akram legally purchased 6 guns.^[67]
• 7 October 2023 – onset of the Gaza war.^[68]
• November 2023 – William Haddad made speeches that were latter determined to contain more than 25 instances of racial vilification against Jews, according to a law suit that he be lost in June 2025.^[69]

• 3 January 2024 – Two Islamic State suicide bombers killed 296 people.^[70] The attack was in Islamic Republic of Iran, during a commemorative ceremony that was marking the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in Kerman.^[71][72][70]

• 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.^[73][74]

• 13 April 2024 – Bondi Junction stabbings, a man from Toowoomba, Queensland stabbed to death 5 women and one man, and injured many others.^[75] The incident triggers and official review of Australia's definition of terrorism.^[76]

• 15 April 2024 – 2024 Wakeley church stabbing, a somewhat extremist Christian priest, from the minority Assyrian community, was stabbed by a mentally disturbed teenagers who referenced Islam in phrases he yelled during the attack. At the time it was characterised as not organised or politically motivated. Bishop Mari Emmanuel and some of his prisoners were stabbed at a church by a mentally unstable 16-year-old who objected to the Bishop's views on Islam.^[77]

• June 2024 – Israel's Knesset announce that 155 diaspora Jews have been killed in anti-semitism related incidents since 1958.^[78][79]

• August 2024 – The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation raised Australia's national terrorism threat level from "possible" to "probable", citing the risk of community tensions and political violence related to the Gaza war as one of the reasons for doing so.^[80][81]

• 20 October 2024 – Arson attack on Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney, which is later blamed on Iran.

• 6 December 2024 – Arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne.

• 2025 or 2026 – Isaac El Matari eligible for parole.^[82][b]

• February 2025 – Mike Burgess, the director-general of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), told a Senate committee that Antisemitism was the “number one priority in terms of threat to life... because of the weight of incidents we’re seeing play out in this country”.^[83]

• 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.^[73][74]

• 10 June 2025 – Iran executed 9 convicted Islamic State militants, who had been captured by the IRGC in 2018. They were charged with Moharebeh ("waging war against God") and terrorism against civilians, among other crimes.^[84]
• William Hadad (also known as "Wissam Haddad" and "Abu Ousayd", an extremist preacher who Naveed Akram was linked to as a teenager) loose a racial vilification law suit about speeches he made in November 2023.^[69]

• 3 August 2025 - Two past supporters of Islamic State, connected to Naveed Akram in 2019,^[55][85] were noticed trying to exploit public protests to further a conflicting agenda.^[12][86] Both men were later reported as a past associate of Naveed Akram from 2019.^[55][85] Youssef Uweinat (sometimes known by the kunya Abu Musa al-Maqdisi) 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.^[55][85] Uweinat was photographed waving a black flag (used by ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other groups) at the edges of a protest on the Harbour bridge.^[12][87] Both men were later reported as a past associate of Naveed Akram from 2019.^[55] William Haddad (see "June 2025" above) 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".^[12]

• Australia were on high alert to the possibility of attacks, but the most urgent warnings had been about very different threat sources, such as the IRGC and other Iran-linked threats.^[88]
• 20 October – Alleged gunmen Sajid^{[verification needed]} and Naveed Akram book a room at an AirBNB in southwest Sydney suburb of Campsie.^[89][90]
• October 2025 – The two gunmen film themselves doing firearms training and make a manifesto video in English.^[91]

• 1 to 28 November 2025 – Sajid and Naveed Akram were in the Philippines for four weeks. During this trip they possibly travelled to Davao City, where several local terrorist groups are active.^[92][93]
• 8 November 2025 – There was a neo-Nazi rally held by the National Socialist Network N-S-N outside New South Wales Parliament in Sydney.^[94] The rally has prior approval by from New South Wales Police despite the previous rallies from the group turning violent.^[94] The police were criticised for inconsistently applying laws prohibiting antisemitism at protests.^[94][95]

• 2 December 2025 – Naveed and Sajid checked into Airbnb in Campsie.^[96]
• 12 December 2025 – CCTV evening footage of Sajid and Naveed Akram at the site of the attack two days beforehand; police allege reconnaissance.^[97]

17:00 Start of Chanukah by the Sea 2025.^[98] More than a thousand attend.^[99]

17:09 – Sajid and Naveed Akram leaving an AirBNB^[100] on 103 Brighton Ave,^{[101][full citation needed]} Campsie in their 2001 silver Hyundai Elantra^[89] for the 45-minute drive from Bondi Beach. Wrapped in blankets are two single barrel shotguns, a Beretta rifle, four IEDs and two ISIS flags.^[97]

17:58 – Car stops on Ocean Street in Woollahra^[102] for 19 minutes.^[97]

18:25 – Car seen on Old South Head Rd.^[97]

18:47 – The attack begins. It is to last for seven minutes.^[103] First call to emergency services.^[104][105]

18:50 – Car parks on Campbell Parade on Bondi Beach.^{[97][clarification needed]}

18:57 – New South Wales Police release a statement confirming that an incident is being responded to, and urge the public to avoid the area.^[106]

19:00–19:15 – Numerous helicopters and sirens, much louder than usual.^[105]

19:08 – Ambulance crew arrive within ten minutes (ultimately more than 123 personnel). 24 patients are transported to hospital; 14 deceased are attended to. Two of the hospitalized later die. A total of 42 people present themselves at hospital.^{[failed verification][107]}

TBD – Drone footage of the two gunmen on the footbridge.^[108] A 17-second clip (provenance unknown, released by the BBC, either from the same video or another) shows one gunman. Other video released by the BBC (again either from the same video another) shows both gunmen.^{[citation needed]} (It also releases a 21-second minute-by-minute account which includes yet more video of the attack, as well as its immediate aftermath.)^[109]

TBD – A nearly continuous 11-minute video shot from some 50 m away begins with one gunman on the pedestrian bridge between Campbell Parade and Archer Park; both begin sustained fire. A police car passes within the first 22 seconds of footage; slightly more than four minutes later, first fire from police targeting the gunmen begins. Approximately 30 seconds later the gunman wearing white trousers is hit and collapses; the second is felled about a minute later.^[110] The BBC releases a 23-second clip (of the same or another video) from the car park of both men firing; police sirens can be heard.^[111]

19:39^[103] – Properties at the Sydney suburbs of Campsie and Bonnyrigg are searched by police overnight; a man and a woman are taken into custody at the latter.^[107] The two gunmen had lived at Bonnyrigg, in Western Sydney^[112] and had stayed in an AirBNB rental^[113] in Campsie^[114] for two days before the attack.

21:36 – New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon officially declares a terrorist attack.^[112][105]

• The police search the Akrams' hotel room and found a 3D printed "speed loader", used to upgrade a shotgun.^[115]
• 06:15 – The number of deaths is now given as 16 (including the elder gunman); 42 people are still in hospital.^[103]
• 07:56 – It is revealed that two Islamic State flags were found in the gunmens' car.^[97]
• 17:36 – The alleged gunmen are identified; they are believed by counter-terrorist officials to have had proclaimed allegiance to the Islamic State.^[103]

• 16 December – Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett says that "Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State".^[116]
• Incitement circulated on line for a retaliatory "bashing day" focused on Cronulla, a beach near Bondi that was the epicenter of a previous anti-Arab and anti-Muslim race riot in 2005.^{[117][118][119]} Targeting "Middle Eastern" and broader locally-described "wog" ethnic groups, referring to Lebanese Australians and other Eastern Mediterranean ethnic groups, the target of the previous mob violence, who live mostly in Western Sydney.^{[120][121][122]}
• Protests were prohibited to prevent escalation of violence. In response to the "bashing day" calls for retaliatory mass violence, public assemblies were prohibited across the entire Sydney metro area for 14 days.^[118] Police presence was increased in Bondi, Cronulla, and surrounding areas.

• 17 Dec 2025 – Naveed Akram charged with 15 counts of murder.^[123]
• 18 December 2025 – Islamic State dedicated the entire full page editorial to the attack in issue 526 of Al-Naba, their Arabic language propaganda magazine.^[124][125]
• 24 December 2025 – Twelve victims remain in hospital, with five in a critical but stable condition.^[126]
• 29 December 2025 – Nine people remained in hospital.^[127]
• 30 December 2025 – "AFP confirms no evidence Akrams received military training in Philippines".^[128]
• 31 December 2025 - During the 2025-26 Sydney New Year's Eve event, images of doves and the word "Peace" were projected on the bridge pylons at 9 p.m., and a moment of silence was observed at 11 p.m., during which the bridge was illuminated in white, and attendees were encouraged to shine lights as a show of unity for Australia's Jewish community.^[129]

• 5 January 2026 – Naveed Akram was transferred to Goulburn Correctional Centre, a supermax prison.^[130]

• November 2026 – Isaac El Matari eligible for parole.^[131]

• Hoffman, Bruce (17 December 2025). "The Bondi Beach Shooting Shows ISIS Threat in Australia and Beyond". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 8 January 2026.
• Khalil, Lydia. "What we know about the Bondi attack". www.lowyinstitute.org. Lowy Institute.

• Timeline from Barrons