Islamic State terrorist group still a threat to the UK

The Royal Air Force officer in charge of the British air campaign against the Islamic State group has told Forces News that the terrorists still pose a threat to the UK in an exclusive interview.

Air Commodore Roddy Dennis, UK’s Air Component Commander, says that IS are not yet beaten, and that operations will continue “for some time” against them after more than three years of the mission.

Islamic State, otherwise known as Daesh, was both defeated in Iraq and removed from their Syrian headquarters last year, with UK forces playing a key role.

Britain launched airstrikes and sorties, and trained Iraqi ground forces in the battle against the terror group, after the beginning of Operation Shader in the autumn of 2014.

“ISIS terrorists aren’t defeated yet, and they still present a threat to the UK,” says Air Cdre Dennis.

“We’ve made it extremely difficult for them to operate.

“Operations are continuing, and I think they will for some time.

“We’re essentially hunting them across the open desert…and denying them an ability to operate freely.

“Now’s about searching them out, and when we find them, removing them from the battlefield.”

By spring 2017, Islamic State was already losing ground, with over 60 per cent of its territory in Iraq and 30 per cent of the area it controlled in Syria having been liberated.

By July, Iraqi forces had retaken the second city of Iraq, Mosul, followed three months later by the removal of IS from the city of Raqqa – once the capital of the terror group’s caliphate.

“We are experts at going out, wide area surveillance….and through our knowledge and expertise, and the brilliance of our people, we’re able to single them out.”

That expertise was publically recognised last year, when Squadron Leader Roger Cruickshank became the first Shader pilot to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Despite being low on fuel he flew his Typhoon aircraft to the aid of Iraqi troops pinned down by IS, bombing the terrorist positions and saving their lives.

Just before Christmas, the Prime Minister visited RAF Akrotiri, and praised the efforts of all personnel involved in Op Shader.

The RAF is still flying daily missions, hitting terrorist bomb factories, tunnel networks and vehicles, as the coalition goes after those IS fighters still as large, including its leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.

“He is an individual that is but one element of Daesh – we’re not looking out for one individual, we’re looking for Daesh as an organisation.

While IS has been bloodied on the battlefield, analysts believe its terrorist network lives on.

Interpol has a database listing the names of 43,000 foreign fighters from 60 countries believed to have joined IS.

As Op Shader enters its fifth calendar year, Islamic State remains a threat worldwide, and one the UK is likely to continue fighting for some time.

Source: Forces