What does the group Isis in the Middle East want from Iraq?

Answer 1

ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), known as ad-Dawla al-Eslamiyya al-3iraaq w'ash-Shaam - الدولة الإسلامية العراق والشام or the acronym Daa3esh - داعش in Arabic, is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization which used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul).

ISIL controls significant amounts of land in Syria and Iraq and conquered much of its Iraqi territory in June 2014.

In regards to ISIL's particular grievances with the Republic of Iraq, the government formerly headed by Nouri al-Maliki, it resents the fact that the Sunni Arab population was sidelined under al-Maliki's leadership. More fundamentally, however, it resents the democratic process since it holds that Islamic Law is superior to any form of democratic law since it was ordained by God and not mortal men. As a result, they want all Sunni Arab majority areas to fall under their rule. Additionally, they strive for religious purity and have been expelling Assyrian Christians and Yazidis to create a more homogeneously Muslim population.