ISIL is NOT specifically directed against the Western World

It is specifically directed (at it's start) against Shia Muslims specifically those in Syria and those who have come to help Assad suppress Sunni Muslims there.

However, now it has morphed from there. But, it is important to distinguish the actual goals of ISIL to make full sense of the phenomenon.

ISIL is primarily young men who WANT TO DIE for their beliefs because it is their belief that by dying in battle that they get to go to heaven like they believe their Prophet Mohammed said. This is their belief.

So, even though their primarily goal is to extinct all Shia Muslims on Earth, their secondary goal is to kill all unbelievers and that is where the secular Christian World comes into the picture. Because in their philosophy anyone who tries to stop their goals is an infidel and should be killed.

So, the ISIL phenomenon is directed basically at the killing of 9/10 of the human race.

Which is basically why I call ISIL a Middle Eastern Depopulation phenomenon.

Also, I consider the idea of killing all Shia Muslims or 9/10 of the human race not only unrealistic but fundamentally insane.

Likely you agree with me.

However, this isn't like any kind of normal war because you are dealing with insane people by the standards of most people on earth. So, you cannot deal with them in any rational way.

This means humane ways of dealing with such people do not exist since their goal is mass suicide while killing everyone else too.

If you understand the motivation here there will never be compromise and since there never will be compromise all normal rules of warfare do not apply to the ISIL phenomenon now on earth.

And since this phenomenon could theoretically go on for 100 years of more before it dissipates for one reason or another, some useful way to deal with this for the 9/10 of the world who think this is insane who have no agreement with this philosophy at all needs to be thought of.

When you have a group of people who have no thought of surviving what they are doing at all and instead think of what they are doing is fighting to die for that purpose alone you have to reconsider all aspects of warfare in this case.