ISIL's evolving socio-political strategy

Is the group becoming more sophisticated as it tries to exploit fault lines in Syria and Iraq?




It is a year since the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) staked its black flag over Iraq's second city of Mosul, home to some two million people.

The group is now estimated to control an area larger than the United Kingdom in a self-declared caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria.

While ISIL's goals appear clear, the fight against them has become ever more complex, and is being waged on vastly different battlegrounds.

As ISIL seeks more territory and influence, is it offering an alternative sense of order and security amid the chaos and instability?