ABSTRACT
The run over of northern and western Iraq by the so-called Islamic State Iraq and Syria (ISIS) represents the most intense and violent rejection of the legitimacy of the Shia-led Iraqi state and Shia-centric state building by the Sunni minority of Iraq. A large number of recruits to ISIS are drawn from the areas of Iraq and Syria under the ISIS control but also from North Africa. The advance of ISIS forces caused the mass exodus from the country of people from minority religious groups – non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians. The local population supported ISIS in reaction to the central government’s alienating policies. In that sense, the terrorist group’s greatest strength is local acceptance and involvement in its expansion. Many of Iraq’s provinces are mixed Sunni, Shia and Kurdish populations without a clear division, which greatly diminishes the feasibility of dividing the country along sectarian/ethnic lines.
