Crush Isis while it’s still a small serpent

SIR – With all respect to Rhodri Morgan, he is making a common mistake in ranking attacks on Isis in Syria with our previous regrettable errors in interfering with the internal affairs of Iraq and Libya and the proposed attack on Assad’s forces in Syria in 2013.

We were wrong then and it was the Second Gulf War that made the Middle East as unstable and dangerous as it is now.

However, Isis are a different kind of problem altogether. They say openly – and mean – that they intend to set up a new Caliphate, initially in Syria, Iraq and the Lebanon, and set out to reconquer the lands once held by the Sultans and their fellow rulers, including Spain, Greece and the Balkans. After that would come ourselves and the rest of the world.

At the moment, though vigorous, they are comparatively small and vulnerable, a small serpent recently hatched from its egg. Now is the time to crush it before it threatens our existence. They have seized or bought a considerable amount of heavy weapons and transport so that until recently, and maybe still, they outgunned the Kurdish Peshmurga and other opponents but they still have no air force and very limited anti-aircraft defence.

There are different groups fighting them in Syria and Iraq but if the West can get its act together and use its air supremacy to wipe out the tanks, artillery and transport Isis has then those local enemies will have the advantage. If Isis cannot transport and sell the oil they have grabbed their war effort will be crippled.

We don’t want to put in ground troops because that would give Isis a propaganda weapon - “Crusaders” or “Christians attacking Islam”. It’s better that we restrict our effort to destroying their heavy weapons, transport and communications