Tell me about it. You got people following survivalist and patriot movement people just to target us for hijackings and rip offs as soon as the opportunity arises, whether or not SHTF.

Alliances are all over he map and as soon as shooting starts, that can change. It seems that people in the Middle East have perfected the art of the backstab, but whoever is the underdog the longest tends to be the most appreciative of allies.

Next is whoever facilitates or runs direct economic activity. They tend to employ guards who will be loyal to a paycheck.

ISIS s largely made up of Muslim radicals who were kicked out of other Muslim countries, even prisoners who were radicalized and then transported to the edges of the IS and dumped. On top of that, they quickly took over oil production and black market sales.

From there, the IS was making a lot of underground business deals, even undermining neighboring countries with that black market oil economy. The Turks are wise enough to not want the Kurds getting on their feet with access to more oil but I think the US assured that the Kurds would control a fair share of oil revenue through arrangements in Iraq.