Minister: We have to destroy jihadis in Syrian heartland

ISLAMIC State must be destroyed in Syria to stop terror atrocities like the Tunisian beach massacre, the Foreign Secretary said last night.

Philip Hammond said it was clear the gunman who killed holidaymakers in Sousse was either inspired by or directed from the jihadists’ ‘heartland’.

‘Whether it is clear attack planning and direction, or whether it is social media inspiration, we know where it is coming from and we know that in the end we have to tackle that heartland if we are going to stop this,’ he said.

His comments came amid confusion over whether there would be British ‘boots on the ground’ as the UK steps up effort to defeat IS.

David Cameron insisted troops would not be sent to Iraq and Syria in combat roles – just hours after Home Secretary Theresa May refused to rule it out.

Mr Hammond said Britain had established ‘pretty clear links’ between the Tunisia attack and Libya, where the gunman who massacred 38 people trained. Although it had been more difficult to trace connections to Syria, it was clear that ‘direction’ was coming from Islamic State’s de facto capital Raqqa.

After a meeting of EU foreign ministers and the Tunisian prime minister Habib Essid in Brussels, he told the Mail: ‘I don’t think we need any more evidence of direction from Raqqa to conclude that ultimately defeating Isil means winding it up in Syria. That is its heartland.

The Prime Minister yesterday indicated he wants to expand the UK’s role to include air strikes in Syria as well as neighbouring Iraq. But he insisted those countries should provide the ‘boots on the ground’.

He also said he would consider strikes on Libya if he believed there was a ‘specific threat’ to British people. The comments followed a warning from former Armed Forces chief Lord Richards that the current effort ag a i nst I S was ‘ woefully insufficient’.

Mr Cameron said: ‘Of course if we are going to succeed in defeating Isil either in Iraq or Syria there will need to be boots on the ground. But they should be Iraqi boots, Syrian boots.’ However, he said it was more complicated in Syria where president Bashar alAssad had become the ‘ chief recruiting sergeant’ f or IS because of his ‘butchery of his own people’.

Earlier in the day, Mrs May admitted Britain needed to do more to combat IS in Syria but refused three times to say if UK soldiers would be deployed. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I’m not saying it is one thing or the other.’

Meanwhile Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the Commons that five British pilots were embedded with coalition forces carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria in the past year.

He said ministerial approval had been given but the flyers were no longer involved. Some 75 other British personnel have also worked with allied forces on attacks in Syria.

MPs from both sides of the House yesterday warned against ‘mission creep’ and said bombing IS might only strengthen alAssad. Julian Lewis, chairman of the defence select committee, said: ‘The reality is that you’ve got to face up to one or the other and until we know which you regard as the lesser of two evils it is not true to say that we have a coherent strategy for Syria.’

Shadow Defence Secretary Vernon Coaker condemned the failure to announce that British personnel had been involved in attacks, saying the government had risked damaging ‘confidence and trust’ in Parliament.’

‘Lesser of two evils’