Congratulations to all recent contributors, of whatever shade and intellect, because in the last page or so you have managed to neatly encapsulate the miasma that is Syria and Iraq .. and Turkey ... right now.
So many factions/Governments, of various loyalties/issues/religions, all playing in the same sand-pit for their varied objectives.
Yes, I accept that IS [let's skip the variations, whimsical or not, for simplicity] is 'probably' the prime target for most ... or is it also an excuse? Turkey v Kurds, Rebels v Assad, Sunni v Shia?
And WHO is buying the oil that funds IS? There are plenty of disparate players in that game, including I suspect the bloody Kingdom of Saud.
The person who intellectually can unravel this farrago deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. And neither of the winners will be Sykes-Picot.