Islamic State has many US weapons including some that were sent to Syrian moderate rebels

Many weapons used by the Islamic State were seized as they captured bases in Iraq from Iraqi forces. However, the group also has US weapons that appear to have been given originally to moderate Syrian rebels linked to the Free Syrian Army.
  Obama has always been hesitant to send many weapons to the rebels of the Free Syrian Army fearing that they might end up in the hands of militants. The western-supported rebels have constantly complained they are not as well-armed as more militant groups. However, some US weapons provided to moderate rebels have ended up in the hands of the Islamic State in any event.
Some Islamic State US weapons may have been obtained when they took over territory controlled by the FSA but some also could have been US weapons provided by Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia to the Islamic Front. The Islamic State has been in constant conflict with them as well.
 Researchers with a group called Conflictarm embedded with Kurdish forces both in Syria and Iraq during a ten day period in July were allowed to catalog Islamic State weapons captured after clashes. Not surprisingly the weapons were manufactured in a number of countries: Along with the anti-tank weapons, manufactured in the former Yugoslavia, researchers documented a handful of U.S. M16A4 rifles, two Chinese Type 80 machine guns, a Croatian sniper rifle, a 9mm Glock pistol and various Soviet-era small arms. The Islamic State has also captured some territory and won out in some battles with Assad forces where it captured Soviet small arms. Some of these items could have been bought on the black market. It is also quite possible that some of the middle men ferrying weapons from the west and Gulf States to rebel groups are pocketing extra money by selling some of them to radical groups such as ISIS.
 Researchers found that anti-tank weapons used by the Islamic State had previously been sent to Syrian rebels. A number of weapons had serial numbers welded over in an attempt to foil any attempts to trace them back to their source. This may indicate the weapons came through a third party trying to mask the source of the weapons. Syria rebel factions who receive US arms have denied that they have provided any arms to ISIS. They insist that the overwhelming majority of the US aid is used by the Free Syrian Army to fight Assad forces. This may very well be true, but the FSA is an umbrella group and probably contains some not above lining their own pockets by selling some of the US arms to the highest bidder.
 Obama is asking the US Congress to greatly increase funding to supply the rebels with more arms and other support. He intends to use the rebels as proxy forces to attack the Islamic State as Kurdish peshmerga and Iraq security forces are being used in Iraq. In both countries any Islamic State successes will gain them more US weapons:
According to one White House aide, the president is seeking more aid for the rebels so they could be the ground troops in place to support potential U.S. airstrikes against ISIS. The Obama administration already is pursuing a similar strategy in Iraq, where U.S. airstrikes are backed by Iraqi security forces on the ground -- as opposed to U.S. ground troops
 In another issue involving moderate Syrian rebels, a spokesperson for the family of beheaded journalist Steven Sotloff claims that he was actually sold by them to the Islamic State or ISIS: Sotloff family spokesman Barak Barfi, a foreign policy research fellow at the New American Foundation, made the startling claim in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.“We believe that these so-called moderate rebels that people want our administration to support, one of them sold him probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to ISIS and that was the reason he was captured.".

Suicide attack claims key Syrian rebel leader

Hassan Assoud who led the Ahrar al-Sham brigade was killed along with others at a meeting of members of the large umbrella organization the Islamic Front. The meeting was called to discuss strategy to fight the radical Islamic State.

The Islamic Front is a merger of seven different rebel groups formed on 22 November 2013. It is not part of the western-backed Free Syrian Army(FSA) but cooperates with it in fighting both Assad and ISIS now called the Islamic State. Ahmad Musa a member of the group's political bureau claimed that the Syrian people wanted a revolution "not politics and foreign agendas". Many believe the group is funded by Saudi Arabia.
 Ahrar al-Sham, which Assoud led, is one of the major groups of the Front with 10 to 20 thousand fighters as of July last year. In February of this year another top commander Abu al-Suri was assassinated in a suicide bombing. Other important figures were killed in the attack including two military field commanders and the head of the Iman brigade. The death toll in total was said to be between 20 to 45.
In a December interview with Al Jazeera, Assoud dismissed any idea of participating in the Geneva talks to broker peace that included the western-supported Syrian National Coalition. He said at the time: "We see Geneva as a tool of manipulation - to derail the Syrian revolution away from its goals and objectives ... Whatever outcome the conference may yield, will be binding on the Syrian National Coalition only.For us, we will continue to fight for our revolution until we restore our rights."
 The casualty figures from the attack vary as is often the case: The Edlib News Network said that over 40 people were killed, including four other leaders of Ahrar al-Sham. The Observatory said "tens" people were killed but did not provide a specific number. Differing casualty figures are routine immediately after attacks in Syria. The Observatory is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK.
Ahrar al-Sham has a very conservative interpretation of Islam along the lines of that prevalent in Saudi Arabia. However there are reports that funding has been drying up of late as some donors have become wary of promoting more radical jihadists for fear that they might return home to carry out jihad there against the government. Ahrar al-Sham blames the Islamic State that has adopted an even more extreme jihadist ideology for the suicide attack. The attack is a serious blow to the rebel opposition and is likely to weaken them further.

One-sixth in France have favorable view of ISIS

ICM Research polled people in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom as to whether they have favorable of unfavorable attitudes to ISIS, now calling itself the Islamic State.

Although the poll was commissioned by Russian state media, the polling firm ICM Research is from the UK. Even the overall results average shows 9 percent having a favorable view of ISIS: The poll revealed that overall 2 percent and 7 percent say they are very favourable and somewhat favourable towards ISIS but a greater 26 percent and 43 percent are somewhat unfavourable and very unfavourable towards ISIS.  

 A number of Europeans, usually from predominantly Muslim communities, have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join jihadist groups such as ISIS. The executioner in the video allegedly depicting the execution of US journalist James Foley had a British accent, stoking fears in the UK that there would be attacks carried out by ISIS in the UK itself. Prime Minister Cameron subsequently raised the terror alert to severe. 

At the same time as support for radical Islamic groups appears on the rise, there is increased intolerance and a "growing willingness to embrace extremism and intolerance of all kinds." Far right politics are attracting more adherents in Europe. British writer Kenan Malik also notes that there is an increasing trend to embrace what he calls "anti-politics" with a growing contempt for politics and politicians. He claims this tendency creates conditions for joining radicalism and bigotry. Many people he claims see a world out of control, or ruled by malign forces, giving rise to conspiracy theories becoming more popular and even mainstream.

 In the UK there could very well be more British citizens fighting in Syria for militant groups than are serving in the British armed forces depending upon whose figures you believe. UK MP from Perry Barr constituency in Birmingham, Khalid Mahmood claims that there are at least 1,500 young UK Muslims fighting for the Islamic State more than twice the number serving in the UK armed forces: "If you look across the whole of the country, and the various communities involved, 500 going over each year would be a conservative estimate.” Over the three years of the Syrian conflict this would give a total of 1500. There are said to be 600 Muslims in the UK armed forces: According to the Ministry of Defence, there are only around 600 British Muslims currently serving in the Armed Forces, making up approximately around 0.4 percent of total personnel. 4.3 percent of the British population are Muslim. 

 Details of the ICM polling process are as follows: ICM interviewed 3,007 respondents in three countries; GB (1,000), France (1,006) and Germany (1,001) by telephone between 11th-21st July 2014. Surveys were conducted across each country and the results have been weighted to the profile of each nation. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.