RAF boss: UK jihadis aren’t naive

THE idea that British jihadis who travelled to the Islamic State war zone did not know what they were doing is ‘fanciful’, a top RAF commander said yesterday.

The comments of Air Commodore Johnny Stringer, who was in charge of approving air strikes on IS in Iraq and Syria until last month, will be seen as a slap down of Britain’s terror watchdog, Max Hill QC.

Mr Hill sparked fury last month by calling for ‘naive’ teenage jihadis to be spared prosecution in the UK.

But Air Cdre Stringer said the notion they could have just dabbled with IS is ‘rubbish’. It comes after Rory Stewart, a foreign office minister, said the only way of dealing with British fighters who have joined IS will be to kill them in almost every case.

Asked about Mr Stewart’s comments, Air Cdre Stringer said UK jihadis had made themselves ‘valid’ targets by going to the war zone. Speaking at the Ministry of Defence in London, he said: ‘I think the key part is that you have got British passport holders, British citizens who by their free will have elected to go out and frankly fight on Daesh’s behalf. Let’s not dress this up. They have made themselves valid targets in so doing.

‘I think any sense that you could go out and have some sort of Daesh-lite activity is rubbish frankly.

‘Equally any sense that you could go there and not know at heart just what a dark organisation it was and what it was conducting in Iraq and Syria and its longer term intent is probably fanciful.’

He added that British military forces would be scaled back in Syria and Iraq ‘probably even in the next four months’, as IS are defeated – but he warned the UK is still at risk from terror attacks.