David Cameron warns Islamic State is a 'clear danger' to the UK

 
Weapons: the government is helping to arm Kurdish fighters (Picture: Reuters)
Standard Reporter17 August 2014
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David Cameron has warned Islamic State extremists pose a “clear danger” to the UK as he explained his decision to arm Kurdish fighters.

The government is considering sending body armour and counter-explosive equipment to anti-IS forces in Iraq.

Mr Cameron admitted it was “hardly surprising” voters were wary of any re-intervention in Iraq, more than a decade after the US-led invasion.

But while it was right not to "send armies to fight or occupy", he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph, the threat posed by the Islamists was so great that some military intervention was fully justified.

'Clear danger': the Prime Minister explained his decision to arm anti-IS fighters (Picture: PA)

"If IS succeeded in creating a wide-ranging caliphate encompassing several countries across the region "we would be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a Nato member.

"This is a clear danger to Europe and to our security," he wrote.

"It is a daunting challenge. But it is not an invincible one, as long as we are now ready and able to summon up the political will to defend our own values and way of life with the same determination, courage and tenacity as we have faced danger before in our history.

"That is how much is at stake here: we have no choice but to rise to the challenge."

His comments came after the Church of England attacked the Government for having no "coherent or comprehensive approach" to combating the rise of Islamic extremism.

The continued threat was underlined by reports of a fresh massacre of members of the Yazidi religious minority at the hands of jihadists despite continued US airstrikes against militant positions.

Officials and eyewitnesses said 80 men were killed and their wives and children abducted.

American warplanes are also involved in a push by Kurdish forces to retake the strategically-important Mosul dam.

The UK has deployed an RAF Rivet Joint spy plane to the skies above northern Iraq as well as Tornado aircraft to monitor the situation as part of the international humanitarian mission.

A small number of Chinook helicopters are on standby in Cyprus for possible deployment and Britain has delivered weapons supplied by several Eastern European countries.

Up to 8,000 cooking sets for some of the estimated half a million refugees in camps in Dahuk province were flown into the region earlier in the latest UK aid drop.

EU foreign ministers yesterday gave their joint approval to the supply of arms to the Kurds and the UK is now working on the details of what they require.

Mr Cameron said he will shortly appoint a special representative to the Kurdistan Regional Government to help co-ordinate the growing assistance.

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