Advertisement

UK must 'consider' ground troops in battle against IS

Lord Dannatt said the UK must consider sending ground troops into Syria and Iraq. Credit: David Parker/Daily Mail / PA Archive/PA Images

Former Head of the British Army, Lord Dannatt, has called on the Government to "think the previously unthinkable" and consider sending ground troops to combat Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Lord Dannatt said he felt air strikes had "failed" to stop the advance of the extremist organisation.

He called for a "public and political debate to begin immediately" on the issue of deploying up to 5,000 infantry soldiers.

In light of this terrifying scenario, how much longer can Britain and the US continue to show such a lack of commitment to defeating IS mililtarily? Their default option of air strikes and limited assistance to indigenous forces has failed thus far.

We have now reached a point when we must think the previously unthinkable and consider that British troops, acting as part of an international coalition, may be required to mount a ground campaign in Iraq and Syria.

I am no gung-ho general who says 'just send the boys in and don't worry about the body bags', far from it, but faced with such a lethal and uncompromising enemy as IS - and with the lack of political and diplomatic solutions at our disposal - we can no longer rule out 'boots on the ground'.

– Lord Dannatt

IS has recently made gains in the Middle East by gaining control of the ancient town of Palmyra, in Syria, and the Iraqi city of Ramadi.