ISIS. Can someone please explain?

[WetAugust]

Looking at a map the BBC have published they seem to have taken control of a large area of Syria and a large area within Iraq.

I'm really struggling to understand where this group has come from. Surely this group consists of a lot more than just the misguided idiots from the UK and other European countries that we are being told have joined them.

How can. Neely established group make such large gains on the ground without the logistics and supply lines that were always hold hath an advancing army requires?
Does that lack of lines of supply mean that many of those within ISUS are actually the local inhabitants of the area that ISIS controls? Is it just a coalition of Sunni tribes supplemented by the idiots from western countries?

I'd quite like yo know why we as we will probably be dragged into a war with them very soon

i think they have had massive amounts of cash from certain Saudi individuals and have captured a lot of the US munitions that was supplied to the Kurds-other than that am very hazy about the whole thing

oh I think they also looted a bank somewhere along the line so have massive amounts of capital from that

There is a lot of information about the group on Wikipedia here. Briefly, the group initially set out to overthrow the kingdom of Jordan, then became part of the resistance to coalition forces and the new government in Iraq. It is part of the anti-Assad forces in Syria. They were funded by kidnapping, extortion and other such activities. It is thought they have recently become much richer as a result of looting Mosul's central bank, although there is some doubt about this. It also receives funding from private donors. There have been suggestions that Saudi Arabia also funds IS but there is reportedly no proof of this.

WetAugust .... if you're not just looking to make a political point, it is a Sunni/Shia regional power/civil war 'thing' discussed at length in this thread, especially within the last pages, where Claig and I had a 'debate', just for a change. lol

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/2152494-Elsewhere-in-the-Middle-East

www.globalresearch.ca/isis-is-americas-new-terror-brand-endless-propaganda-fuels-war-on-terror/5398675

Thank you all for the links which I shall look at. A Sunni / Shia power struggle would explain I to me as I couldn't fathom how ISIS could comprise so many people in such a short time.