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.