Former Head of UK Army: Bombing ’IS’ Important Because Would Involve Intervention in Syria

Local Editor 

UK's former head of the army, Richard Dannatt, said that Britain should intervene with the U.S. and start bombing militants from the so-called "Islamic State [IS]," saying that this was important because it would involve intervention in Syria.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Dannatt said he thought it was inevitable that Britain would eventually start launching air strikes against IS.

According to him, he said that this was important because defeating IS would involve intervening in Syria, where IS established a power base before expanding into Iraq.

Stressing the importance of maintaining Britain's close relationship with the U.S., he said: "I think the time will come when we will decide that our Tornado jets operating in the region won't just take photographs and produce intelligence; they will start dropping ordinance in conjunction with the Americans."

Furthermore, Dannatt said the government should open talks with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of the campaign against IS.
Dannatt also said the need to intensify the military campaign against IS would require the west to open negotiations with Assad, even though the US and the UK came close to launching air strikes against the Syrian government last summer [2013].

Dannatt spoke out as Washington signalled that it might extend the fight against IS.

Moreover, the Conservative former foreign secretary and chairman of the intelligence and security committee, Malcolm Rifkind, made a similar argument in an interview with the Financial Times.

"[IS] needs to be eliminated and we should not be squeamish about how we do it," he said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team