Today’s news items of interest for Defence include reports that coalition-backed Syrian militias have made significant gains against Daesh in the town of Manbij.
Daesh
The Financial Times (p8) has reported that thousands of Syrians are returning to their homes in the strategic town of Manbij after a US-backed Syrian militia wrested it from Daesh. The paper says fighters and civilians celebrated the recapture of the town by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – an alliance dominated by a Kurdish militia – which will be a boost to the ground campaign against the extremist group.
Separately, The Wall Street Journal Europe (p3) reports that Hafiz Saeed Khan, Daesh’s leader in Afghanistan, was killed by a drone strike in a part of eastern Afghanistan.
The RAF has conducted several air strikes in recent weeks in the Manbij area. Read more about the UK’s activity against Daesh here.
Public Interest Lawyers
This morning’s Daily Mail splashes with reports that law firm Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), which has pursued compensation claims against British soldiers on behalf of Iraqi citizens, is to shut down. The article claims that nearly 200 compensation claims could be thrown out. The story is also carried by The Telegraph, The Times and The Sun.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
This is the right outcome for our armed forces, who show bravery and dedication in difficult circumstances. For too long, we’ve seen our legal system abused to impugn them falsely. We are now seeing progress and we will be announcing further measures to stamp out this practice.
RAF Fylingdales
The Sunday Express (p8) has reported that Chinese officers who trained with the RAF as part of a goodwill exchange programme were actually “high-level intelligence officers”. It is claimed that the two ground engineers caused alarm when they visited RAF Fylingdales on the North York Moors.
The RAF can confirm that two officers in question were in the UK to complete the basic Initial Officer Training, a course with 102 cadets from the Philippines, Jordan, Ukraine and China. The Cadets that completed the course were at the very start of their military training and did not receive access to sensitive information or any classified areas.
Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aircraft have been in action over Iraq as part of the international coalitions operations to support the democratic Iraqi Government in the fight against ISIL.