Today’s defence in the media includes the news that RAF planes have struck a Daesh stronghold in a palace in Mosul.
Air strike update
Following this morning’s strike statement, there was been widespread coverage on the Today Programme, Sky News, BBC Breakfast, ITV, the Daily Telegraph (p2) and the Sun (p12) that British fighter jets have destroyed a Daesh training centre based in one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in northern Iraq as part of a coalition strike. Coverage includes RAF footage and images as well as comments made by the Defence Secretary that the attack was a sign that the terror group is getting weaker.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
Daesh has been losing followers and territory for months, and emphatic strikes like this show that we and the coalition will not waver.
Daesh fighters, both foreign and home grown, can see that they are targets inside this cult.
The full strike statement can be read here.
Public interest lawyers
There is widespread coverage in this morning’s print that a legal firm which spent years ‘hounding traumatised British troops’ has had its access to public money axed yesterday. It is claimed that the decision to strip Public Interest Lawyers of its ability to claim legal aid is ‘a victory for the soldiers it tormented’.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
We've seen our legal system abused to falsely impugn our Armed Forces. Now we are seeing justice done. Every day, our service men and women show bravery and dedication in difficult circumstances. They shouldn’t be subject to unfounded legal claims. We are working on a package of measures that, alongside this ruling, will ensure they aren’t.
Dean Evans
There this morning’s broadcast and print media report that a British man has been killed fighting Daesh in Syria, his father and Kurdish forces in the region have confirmed. Dean Carl Evans, a 22-year-old from Reading, was fighting alongside Kurdish militia fighters who say he was killed on 21 July during an offensive by anti-Daesh forces who were trying to take back the city of Manbij.