Britain to 'step up' military presence in Iraq with extra troops to help local forces in fight against ISIS

Extra British troops are to be sent to Iraq to help in the battle against ISIS extremists, the government announced today.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the UK was 'stepping up' its military presence after a 'small specialist' team was sent to instruct Peshmerga in the northern city of Erbil last month.

UK forces will offer further training to Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Mr Fallon said during a visit to Iraq today.

 

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced UK forces will offer further training to Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters

The government stressed that combat troops were not being deployed to take on ISIS across large parts of Syria and Iraq. 

During his first visit to Iraq, Mr Fallon told the BBC: 'We are going to be stepping up our training effort. I can't give you precise numbers. I'm here to evaluate training needs and there are areas of expertise, particularly in counter-IED, roadside car bombs, where we can help from our experience in Afghanistan.

'So we will be putting in more training people to help at the training centres across the country, not just in the Kurdish areas.'

Mr Fallon, who visited British army trainers teaching Peshmerga fighters how to use heavy machine guns given by the UK, insisted the Government remains clear that no combat troops will be deployed to Iraq.

Under the expansion of the training mission, UK troops will teach Kurds infantry skills such as sharp-shooting and first aid, and more equipment will be provided. The UK will also send advisory personnel to Iraqi headquarters.

Pressure has been growing to provide more assistance to new Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi as his country's forces struggle to reclaim territory in the north and west.

 

The UK troops will teach Kurdish fighters skills such as sharp-shooting and first aid, and more equipment will be provided

Mr Fallon held talks in Baghdad with the premier as well as Iraqi security advisers before flying north to Erbil to met the President of the Kurdistan regional government Masoud Barzani and prime minister Nechirvan Barzani.

He added: 'The need is now. It's a very immediate challenge from Isil. As they start to push Isil back out of the villages and towns that Isil have gone into they are going to need this kind of assistance with roadside bombs, particularly to counter the terror tactics that Isil have been using.

'So, we are looking very urgently now how we can get more training help to them in the next few weeks.'

There are areas of expertise, particularly in counter-IED, roadside car bombs, where we can help from our experience in Afghanistan

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon 

Asked about concerns of mission creep, he replied: 'This is a very limited mission. The Prime Minister's made it very, very clear we are not going to recommit combat troops to Iraq. We've been there, we've done that.

'What we are going to do is to help the new government of Iraq and its own army take the fight to Isil through the aircraft we have deployed in the sky, through intelligence gathering, and through specialist training.'

British troops were part of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that overthrew Saddam Hussein, and later took responsibility for Basra and the south of the country.

The last combat troops with Operation Telic, as it was called, left in April 2009, with a small number staying on to train Iraqi forces until 2011.

RAF Tornado fighter-bombers have been taking part in US-led bombing raids on IS.

But Prime Minister David Cameron has dismissed the prospect of sending in ground troops to fight the Islamist group, which controls swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.