Sound The Trumpet : Britain Gears Up for War on ISIS With Plans for Air Strikes in Iraq and Syria

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“Britain Gears Up for War on ISIS With Plans for Air Strikes in Iraq and Syria”
by The Telegraph
September 5th, 2014

The Prime Minister held crisis talks with Barack Obama and criticised European allies who have paid ransoms to terrorists

US President Barack Obama, (R), and British Prime Minister David Cameron meet children at Mount Pleasant Primary School in Newport Photo: EPA

Britain could launch air strikes in Iraq and Syria within weeks after David Cameron set out a potential timetable for a military intervention and pledged to “use everything we have in our armoury” to wipe out Islamist terrorists.

Downing Street was gauging whether Conservative MPs would support a military intervention against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil), with government whips asking MPs where they stood on the matter.

The Prime Minister held crisis talks with Barack Obama in an attempt to form a coalition of Nato members willing to respond to the Isil jihadists who have murdered two American hostages and threatened the life of David Haines, a British captive.

However, there were concerns that Mr Obama, the US president, is unwilling to go further than the targeted air strikes he has already launched in northern Iraq.

And a source close to the Haines family told ITV News that the family was worried that military action against Isil could have a direct impact on Mr Haines’s safety.

In other developments:

- Mr Haines’s wife spoke for the first time about his plight, and told of her husband’s role helping to rebuild a war-torn Croatian village through his humanitarian work.

- The Prime Minister criticised European allies for paying ransoms to terrorists and challenged fellow Nato leaders over such payments during a dinner at the summit in Newport, Wales.

- Details emerged of how one of the hostages murdered by Isil tried to hide his Jewish past.

- There were signs of a “coalition of the willing” being formed to take on Isil, with Jordan agreeing to partner directly with Nato.

Mr Cameron and Mr Obama used a car journey on the way to visit a Welsh primary school to hold intensive talks on the Isil crisis.

Government sources said that the 40-minute discussion ended with a “clear determination from both of them to confront the Isil threat”.

However, there was no request from Mr Obama for the Prime Minister to commit British military forces to the ongoing offensive against the terrorists despite Mr Cameron’s forthright comments.

Mr Cameron said: “I’m certainly not ruling anything out and I will always act in the British national interest.”

In a significant development, Mr Cameron also made clear that there was no legal impediment to British forces bombing Isil targets in Syria. The Prime Minister said that one of the conditions of any military intervention would be the formation of a “stable” Iraqi government following the ousting of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister. The Iraqis have now set a deadline of Sept 11 for the formation of the new government, meaning any request for military support from Britain and America could coincide with that date.

“Above all, what we need is a functioning, stable and inclusive Iraqi government,” Mr Cameron said. “This problem is at the heart of Iraq, and the first thing that is required is an Iraqi government that represents all the people of Iraq. Indeed, one of the reasons this issue has come about is because we did not have an Iraqi government of that nature.”

Downing Street also said that Mr Cameron and Mr Obama had agreed to establish a significant mission to help train Iraqi and Kurdish forces. The UK will continue to provide equipment to the fighters and could provide weapons, sources said.

Westminster sources insisted that the canvassing of Tory MPs was not a sign that the decision to launch air strikes has been taken.

However, they conceded that the mood among Conservative MPs was “hardening” in favour of air strikes.

In the event of any air strikes, the Government will want to avoid a repeat of last year’s debacle over the military intervention in Syria, when a rebellion by Conservative MPs took Downing Street by surprise.

On that occasion, the whips’ office only started canvassing opinion in the 24 hours before the parliamentary vote.

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that any air strikes “would have to be part of a wider approach which hasn’t been assembled yet”.

Mr Clegg told the BBC: “Air strikes on their own – particularly if they are deemed to be air strikes by the West against the rest – don’t work.” He added: “As long as we can work in concert with other countries and in support of other countries, then we should not rule out Britain continuing to play an active role in trying to … squeeze out of existence this medieval and vile movement.”

MPs will on Wednesday debate the Isil threat in the Commons. Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, said that the majority of Conservative MPs support military action. He said: “My impress

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13