[Boogieman]

That spiderweb map of “IS Control” is a little misleading. A lot of the area between the web is barren desert that nobody cares about. Technically, you could say that IS doesn’t control it, because they don’t have much air power to patrol it, or columns of armor to push through it. Still, if they control all the major roads and towns surrounding those areas, then they are effectively under their control.

[bert]

The practical reality is they control the territory. It’s like saying Utah and Arizona don’t control all the deserts off the rivers and roads

Syria and Iraq are partitioned.

[SoConPubbie]

That spiderweb map of “IS Control” is a little misleading. A lot of the area between the web is barren desert that nobody cares about. Technically, you could say that IS doesn’t control it, because they don’t have much air power to patrol it, or columns of armor to push through it. Still, if they control all the major roads and towns surrounding those areas, then they are effectively under their control.

Which means their "control" is tenuous at best and can be broken easily by a committed, well-armed force.