UK Defense Secretary: Illogical Not to Bomb ’ISIL’ in Syria

Local Editor

Britain's defense minister signaled a possible shift in policy by saying it's illogical that Royal Air Force jets conducted airstrikes against "ISIL" extremists in Iraq but not in Syria.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon was due to make a statement on the topic to lawmakers in the House of Commons on Thursday.

However, Fallon attacked the current policy of only bombing Iraq and not Syria as the British government continued to cite the Tunisia massacre as a reason for extending airstrikes against "ISIL".

On Wednesday he said "there is an illogicality about not being able" to strike "ISIL" positions in Syria, because the militants "don't differentiate between Syria and Iraq."

In September, Britain's Parliament voted to attack militants in Iraq, but not Syria; though, no vote on expanding the strikes to Syria was currently scheduled.

Furthermore, Fallon said the move was not necessarily needed immediately. He argued that while a vote would be required, there was no legal barrier to bombing "ISIL". He also said the new Conservative majority government needed to reassess its strategy.

"It is a new parliament and MPs will want to think very carefully about how we best deal with "ISIL"..."he stated.

Nonetheless, the Defense Secretary also hinted that the pursuit of such a policy would require evidence of a connection between the Tunisia killings and "ISIL" as he said "If we can link it back, [if] it does link directly back to "ISIL" in Syria, then we will have to reflect with the rest of the coalition how best we deal with that."

On his part, Tory justice minister and former soldier Crispin Blunt disagreed, "There's no military necessity for this. We are not providing very many of the aircraft. Therefore it makes no practical difference."

Fallon and Blunt's interventions came a day after the opposition could well back another vote on attacking Syria, despite voting down a government motion to do so in 2013.

Addressing MPs on Monday, PM David Cameron gave the strongest indication yet that he felt Britain's strategy for confronting "ISIL" should be reframed to include airstrikes on Syria.

Accordingly, the Prime Minister's office had since announced that it was considering the legal basis for extending operations to Syria.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team