There's a political element, and a historical element, and an economic element, and hell, probably a geographic element underlying this. You can have a reasonable debate as to what factors are more influential. But there's clearly no debate that religion is somewhere near the top. Again, go back and read the article I posted a link to. They're clear about why they think what they're doing is the right thing to do... if you think they're just lying about their motivations... why? What makes you think that? If they're truly motivated by exclusively geopolitical factors, why wouldn't they say so?
In fact, they do mention them among their reasons for fighting, but they're just not the main drivers, and even Western aggression is characterized as a crime against the faith:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dabiq
1. Because we do not believe in Islamic monotheism.
2. Because we do not obey Allah.
3. Because of the atheists among us.
4. Because of our crimes against the religion of Islam.
5. Because of our crimes against Muslims.
6. Because of our invasion of Muslim lands.
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Again, I'd suggest people read this... in fact I don't think you can credibly talk about ISIS without having done so.
http://clarionproject.org/factsheets...-the-cross.pdf
This article, now a few years old, is also pretty much required reading on the topic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...-wants/384980/