MPs offer ISIL global threat warning

The Commons Defence Committee has warned of the risk of ISIL becoming an ‘international movement’ if it is forced out of Iraq and Syria. While the government ‘fights Islamist militants on all fronts’, MPs have said there is a danger of ISIL, also known as Daesh, forming regional offshoots in Africa and Asia. In its report, the committee highlighted concerns that unless there were far-reaching political and economic reforms, there would be space for ISIL to spring back or be replaced by other Islamist groups in Iraq, while a lack of clarity over the opposition forces operating on the ground in Syria left the situation there ‘complicated’. Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said: "If Daesh transforms itself into an international movement or a network of affiliates - like al-Qaeda before it - which can survive the loss of territory - the UK government approach will need to adapt. For example, if Daesh is defeated in the Middle East but then grows strong in Africa, the current strategy will require major revision. "Assuming Daesh is squeezed out of both countries, we have to focus too on what happens next - both in other countries to which Daesh may migrate and in Syria especially where there is no shortage of other Islamist groups, just as dangerous, which are planning to take control." The UK has been taking part in air strikes against Islamist militants in Iraq since 2014 and Parliament authorised their extension to Syria last year, seeing 550 RAF missions in Iraq since December 2015 and 65 in Syria.