THREE-YEAR WAR TO CRUSH JIHADIS

As MPs return for Iraq air strikes vote, defence minister warns we face ...

BRITAIN will today commit to a war lasting up to three years against ‘medieval’ Islamist fanatics spreading horror in Iraq. In an emergency sitting of Parliament, MPs are expected overwhelmingly to back military action for what is already being called the Third Gulf War.

Air strikes are expected to start within hours of the 5pm vote.

The daughter of British aid worker David Haines, beheaded by the so- called Islamic State, last night made an emotional plea to the Government to do ‘whatever it takes’ to destroy the jihadis who murdered her father.

Bethany Haines, 17, said they should be ‘eradicated’, adding: ‘They can’t be doing this to people and get away with it.’

Six RAF Tornado jets will begin strikes on targets in Iraq from a base in Cyprus within hours of MPs giving their approval. British special forces have already deployed to the region to gather intelligence and help identify targets among the fanatics who have seized control of vast areas of Iraq and Syria.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned the campaign was a ‘long haul’ likely to last for ‘two or three years’ at least, while Downing Street said it could take a ‘very considerable time’.

The Government said a request from the Iraqi government for support was ‘a clear and unequivocal legal basis for deployment of UK forces’.

After Labour refused to back action in Syria – to the anger of some senior Conservatives – MPs will vote only on hitting targets in Iraq. But ministers are leaving the way open to joining the US

in strikes on IS fanatics across the border in Syria following a second Commons vote. In other developments:

The FBI said it had identified the Briton known as Jihadi John seen on propaganda murder videos;

Iraq claimed IS was plotting to attack the underground systems in the US and France – the two countries that have so far participated in the air strikes;

Officials said a major terror attack in the UK is almost inevitable as thousands of European members of IS return from Syria and Iraq;

US and Arab nations launched air strikes against IS-run oil refineries;

Military chiefs warned Britain would struggle to mount a long military campaign because the strength of the air force had been reduced to ‘rock bottom’.

David Cameron – addressing the UN Security Council in New York before flying back to Britain to chair an emergency meeting of the Cabinet yesterday – said IS had behaved with ‘medieval barbarity’.

‘One of the most disturbing aspects is how this conflict is sucking in our own young people, from modern, prosperous societies,’ the Prime Minister said. ‘The threat to our security from foreign fighters is far greater today that it has ever been in previous conflicts.’

He said the UK was ready to play its part in confronting ‘an evil against which the whole world must unite’.

Mr Fallon said Britain had to ‘face up’ to the threat from IS or face attacks at home. He told political magazine The House: ‘This has to be planned, it has to be sustained. (US Secretary of State) John Kerry has estimated two to three years, that looks like a long haul to me. But we have to face up to this. This kind of extremism has been spreading, taking root in democracies.’

A motion to be put before MPs recalled for an emergency session of Parliament today makes clear the Government ‘will not deploy UK troops in ground combat operations’.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said another invasion of Iraq would ‘feed’ IS’s anti-Western narrative, and regional forces would take the lead on the ground.

But appearing to confirm special forces are deployed and British troops could take a training role, he added: ‘There will be a ground operation – it’s just that we will not be providing ground combat troops.

‘We are expecting that the House of Commons will support the Government’s position. I think people do accept that this is a serious threat to Britain’s national security.’

On Syria, Mr Hammond insisted: ‘ We haven’t ruled out anything. If we were to decide at a point in the future that it would be right to conduct air strikes in Syria, then