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Mr Pack points out that the country has three main power blocks: Libya Dawn (a mixture of Islamist and non-Islamist militias allied with the Tripoli-based government), Operation Dignity (led by forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar and allied with the internationally recognised government based in the eastern city of Tobruk) and Jihadist groups (which include IS, al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia - the most powerful of them). "There is a civil war between the two main groups [Libya Dawn and Operation Dignity]. The jihadists act as spoilers," Mr Pack says.

Abu Ahmed at first welcomed the takeover by Isis,

Sunni Muslims in both countries have long felt discriminated against by regimes dominated by rival sects

without an economy that gives people a chance to make a living, many say Isis has little more to offer

“Compared to past rulers, Isis is a lot easier to deal with. Just don’t piss them off and they leave you alone,” says Mohammed, a trader from Mosul. “If they could only maintain services — then people would support them until the last second.”

“They’re operating like something between a mafia, an insurgency and a terror group. Maybe they thought six months ago they were going to function as a state. But they don’t have the personnel or manpower.”

the FT found its attempt at state-building has so far failed to win over locals.

volunteers handing out sacks of wheat stamped with their black and white seal. They even announced plans to issue a currency,

In some cases they say Isis takes credit for systems in place before it seized power. In others, locals say it is stealing the resources of the region it seeks to rule

Travellers must stock up on Iraqi dinars to use in Iraq, US dollars for the road and Syrian pounds once they arrive.

“I’m against Isis with all my heart,” Mahmoud says. “But I can’t help but admire their cleverness.”

Isis struggles to balance its books,

services continue to function because of the money Baghdad still pays to former civil servants in Mosul. Isis taxes those employees at up to 50 per cent of their salaries.

It is as if Isis is financing itself partly through a pyramid scheme, and this has begun to falter.”

Though many now question Isis’s economic management, its military prowess and organisational skills are clear.

Isis allows easy movement through its territories to facilitate trade. Trucks passing through are taxed about 10 per cent of the value of their cargo.

“I may be a Salafi, but I’m not an idiot,” he jokes.

helped make ISIS the world’s richest extremists.

Rebel groups targeted oil resources from the regime in battles often overshadowed by higher-profile fronts in the war — namely in the provinces of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, where there were refineries and oil fields.

Strapped for cash, the rebels smuggled some of the oil to buyers in Turkey, whose government was one of the Syrian opposition’s main backers, having already opened its borders to activists, fighters, and refugees.

Omar would receive a call from a commander in the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the U.S.-backed rebel coalition, telling him to head to the Syrian side of the border.

If he took in $1,500 in a night, he would give $500 to the FSA commander and another $500 to the Turkish border guards. “You can’t really say that we are smuggling oil, because we take permission from the Turkish side and the Syrian side,” Omar said. “But since it’s under the table, we call it smuggling.”

it controlled Raqqa, and soon after it was battling for control of the rebel-held parts of Deir Ezzor.

It was the worst example of a wartime pillage that has stripped Syria of everything of value, from scrap metal to precious artifacts. “I just want to show the world what they are doing to my country,” he said.

Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan

The country's prime minister recently called on western powers to help him stop the spread of what he calls 'militancy' in his country.

There are more than 225,000 Libyans registered in militias. They receive state salaries but often act outisde of government control, taking orders from local or political commanders.

Groups in Libya's eastern Cyrenaica region and in the southern Fezzan region have called for independence

In Cyrenaica, former rebel leader Ibrahim al-Jathran and his 20,000 men strong militia say they now run local affairs, with Jathran and his men controlling facilities that account for 60 percent of Libya's oil wealth.