Don’t rule out ground troops to fight IS: Blair

LONDON: Britain’s former prime minister and Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said Monday that sending ground troops to fight the Islamic State (IS) group should not be ruled out.
Blair, who sent British forces to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he knew “as well as anyone” the difficulties of any such move but insisted it should not be discounted.
“I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West,” Blair wrote in an essay on the website of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
“But we should not rule it out in the future if it is absolutely necessary. Provided that there is the consent of the population directly threatened and with the broadest achievable alliance, we have, on occasion, to play our part.”
He added that air power alone “will not suffice” in the fight against the IS group.
“They can be hemmed in, harried and to a degree contained by air power. But they can’t be defeated by it,” Blair added.
“You cannot uproot this extremism unless you go to where it originates and fight it.”
Blair sees the conflict in Iraq and Syria as part of a wider global problem with radical Islam which also spans unrest in Pakistan, Nigeria, Mali and China’s Xinjiang province.
“This is not a clash of civilizations. It is a struggle between those who believe in peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and none and extremists who would use religion wrongly as a source of violence and conflict,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday warned Australians fighting with extremist groups in the Middle East they face lengthy jail terms if they return home.
“My unambiguous message to all Australians who fight with terrorist groups is that you will be arrested, prosecuted and jailed for a very long time,” Abbott told Parliament in a statement on national security.
“Our laws are being changed to make it easier to keep potential terrorists off our streets,” Abbott said after the biggest security crackdown in Australian history last Thursday saw more than 800 police officers raid nearly 30 homes.
The government said it had foiled a plot by Islamic State to carry out gruesome “demonstration executions” in Australia.
Abbott said 60 Australians were known to be fighting in Iraq and Syria, 20 had already returned to Australia while another 100 actively support the jihadis.
Separately, the IS called on insurgents in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Monday to press ahead with attacks against Egyptian security forces and to continue beheadings, an appeal likely to deepen concerns over ties between the militant groups.
“Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure,” IS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani said in a statement released online.
He praised Egyptian militants for carrying out “blessed operations against the guards of the Jews...”