Today’s broadcast and print media focus on the Greek financial troubles and the anniversary of the 7/7 bombings.
Obama on ISIL
Last night, in his Pentagon press conference following his campaign update against ISIL, President Obama said that defeating the group will take time and that the US was stepping up its strikes in northern Syria. He went on to sat that it would ultimately be for the ground forces of - and effective efforts by - countries in the region to win the battle, supported by coalition air strikes and an ideological and financial campaign against the group to squeeze its funding routes. In response to the second of two unscheduled questions Obama ruled out any current plans to send more personnel.
This morning the Daily Telegraph website reports that Iraqi armed forces and allied militia were last night fighting to reach the gates of Fallujah, the first major attempt to recapture a city in the largely Sunni province of Anbar since most of it fell to ISIL last year. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government is trying to reverse gains after it seized the capital on Anbar, Ramadi, in May.
Extremist threat
ITV News last night featured an interview with Tony Blair where he urged nations around the world to ‘wake up’ to the threat of Islamic extremism, as Britain marks a decade since 52 people were killed in a series of bomb attacks on London. Speaking to Mark Austin he said it was ‘very obvious for a long time’ that ‘we are in a very, very long struggle’ against groups such as ISIL. “It is going to take us a long time to defeat this because it is a global struggle – it is the product of an ideology that has got roots now globally.”
Analysing the piece on BBC R4 Today (0615), Norman Smith said that it was telling that Blair had referenced that it would take boots on the ground, though not necessarily British. He said there was marked contrast between the current political climate and Blair’s time as Prime Minister, evidenced by the slow political process towards a vote on joining air strikes in Syria.
Britain’s first female general
The Times and The Sun carry positive articles from yesterday’s announcement (carried by Sky News and The Guardian website) that the British Army soldier Susan Ridge is to become the most senior ranked woman in the history of the service. The Brigadier will become a 2* Major General in September when she takes up the post of director-general of the army’s legal services.
She said:
I feel very honoured and privileged to have been given this opportunity. I think it shows that women can progress in the Army.
General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the General Staff, said:
I am very pleased for Sue. She is a talented and committed officer who is widely respected.
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