DAESH report relevant to Syria debate
1 December 2015
The Defence Committee draws attention to the previous Committee’s Report on The situation in Iraq and Syria and the response to al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq al-Sham (DAESH) in advance of tomorrow’s debate on military intervention in Syria.
- Report: The situation in Iraq and Syria and the response to al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq al-Sham (DAESH)
- Special Report: Government response to the Committee's report on DAESH
- Report: The situation in Iraq and Syria and the response to al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq al-Sham (DAESH) (PDF 737KB)
- Special Report: Government response to the Committee's report on DAESH (PDF 178KB)
Background to the report
The Report, published in February 2015, questioned the UK’s perceived lack of strategy at that time.
The previous Defence Committee noted that the then-Government needed to ensure that it had a clear picture of what was happening on the ground and that it was:
"unacceptable for the United Kingdom simply to 'sign-up' to providing military support for a campaign plan entirely developed and owned by another coalition partner—in this case, apparently, the United States—without having any independent assessment or analysis of the assumptions, detail and viability of that campaign plan."
The previous Committee also questioned whether "containment and suppression of DAESH would not be a more realistic goal than total elimination."
However, the Report also noted that failure to address the threat posed by DAESH would:
"mark a substantial departure from the UK's long-term security partnership with both the United States and its partners in the Middle East. It would heighten perceptions that the UK has stepped back from its international role and could risk undermining wider commitment to the US-led coalition, possibly weakening the effort against DAESH. It would also make it harder for the UK to influence political developments thereafter. Furthermore, it would undermine the UK's national security interests through destabilisation of the region, and through DAESH's sponsorship of terrorist attacks and training of British foreign fighters in military tactics which could be used upon the UK public following their return home."
Whilst the majority of that Report focused on the situation in Iraq, the Committee believes that many of the issues raised are relevant to tomorrow’s debate and apply equally to military intervention in Syria.