Of note in Defence news today is reporting of an inquiry into housing for Army families, and continued coverage of air strikes in Syria.
Army homes
The Sun reports that Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has launched an urgent inquiry after a probe by the paper found Army families are living in squalid and unsafe housing. According to the paper, the families say they are making around 1,000 complaints a week over poor service from the private firm charged with maintaining and repairing their homes, and that nearly 7,500 people have signed a petition calling for contractor CarillionAmey to be stripped of its multibillion pound MOD deal. The MOD's position on this can be seen below.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
I am deeply concerned by these reports and want them looked into as a matter of urgency. It is simply unacceptable that our brave service personnel and their families , who offer this country so much, have to put up with such poor service. That’s why I’m going to call in the Chief Executives of Carillion and Amey to identify what can be done to improve this situation as soon as possible.
Syria
There is widespread coverage of continued air strikes in Syria, which papers say has threatened last week's peace deal. The Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph all carry articles, and reports say US President Barack Obama has urged Vladimir Putin to stop Russian bombing of mainstream rebels in an attempt to make diplomatic progress on a limited and temporary ceasefire that is supposed to come into effect this week. Elsewhere, The Mirror reports comments by the Foreign Secretary accusing Russia of 'carpet bombing' civilians in Syria, while the FT splashes with a story that Russia is deliberately attacking civilians in northern Syria in an attempt to intensify the refugee crisis, according to western diplomats and politicians.
- The latest update on UK air strikes against Daesh can be seen here.
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