This was more or less the thought process that led me to write 'odd'. I started with stronger language -- 'surprising' or something -- and decided that, most likely, ISIS doesn't have the longterm acumen to hold off on actions that will make people who don't hate them now hate them later. If there are any of those people. It's probably a smaller subset than I'm assuming. It would take a hell of a lot to make most of ISIS' supporters angry at them.So I don't know that there aren't any "muslims on the fence" about nuking ancient archeological sites but if I were to make an educated guess, I'd say that ISIS wouldn't give the first fuck about them either, for all the reasons they don't give the first fuck about the West.
ISIS used to be al Qaeda in Iraq until they decided al Qaeda were pussies. Then they made the cardinal mistake of stateless entities: they grabbed turf. So now you have a terrorist organization claiming to be a state when in fact you have an ideological entity that has chosen to be responsible for geography. Terrorists that wave flags around and sit on top of hills are short-lived. This is the legacy of ISIS. If they weren't straddling the twin clusterfucks of civil-war Syria and post-occupation Iraq they never would have made a play. As it is, it's like declaring yourself the warlord of Somalia - sure, until someone bigger comes along. ISIS doesn't have the longterm acumen to hold off on actions that will make people who don't hate them now hate them later.