UK military operations in Syria and Iraq

Terms of reference

The questions the Committee is particularly interested in examining are:

• What is the order of battle (ORBAT) and military capability of ISIL/DAESH in Syria and Iraq and what tactics and strategy should we employ to confront it?
• Will air strikes alone be effective in degrading and defeating DAESH?
• Do the RAF have the capacity, in terms of equipment and personnel, to sustain or increase the involvement in a campaign of air strikes against DAESH in Syria?
• Which ground troops are active in theatre, countering DAESH, which might benefit from UK air strikes?
• Is there adequate intelligence to ensure that air strikes are accurately targeted against DAESH?
• What would be the impact of deploying UK ground troops?
• Will military engagement in Syria increase the UK’s ability to broker a political peace process and transition to a democratically-elected representative government?
• Should the UK engage bilaterally with Iran and Russia on deconfliction if the decision is taken to extend air strikes into Syria

Submitting written evidence

Written submissions for this inquiry should be submitted via the inquiry page on the Defence Committee website. The deadline for written submissions is Monday 11 January 2016, although earlier submissions would be welcome.

• Submissions should state clearly who the submission is from e.g. ‘Written evidence submitted by xxxx’ and be no longer than 3000 words, please contact the Committee staff if you wish to discuss this.
• Submissions must be a self-contained memorandum in Word or Rich Text Format (not PDFs). Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference and the document should, if possible, include an executive summary.
• Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure; the Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Select committees