Events in Syria dominate this morning's headlines from a defence point of view.
Coalition air strikes
There is coverage in most national newspapers of the MOD's involvement in recent coalition air strikes in Syria.
An MOD spokesperson said:
We can confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition air strike in Syria, south of Dayr az Zawr on Saturday, and we are fully cooperating with the coalition investigation. The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.
Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT)
There is continued coverage in the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun of the work of IHAT, an organisation set up to review and investigate allegations of abuse in Iraq during the period of 2003 to July 2009.
An MOD spokesperson said:
We’ve seen our legal system abused to falsely impugn our armed forces and we are putting an end to that. Equally, our armed forces are rightly held to the highest standards and, whilst rare, where there are credible claims of criminal behaviour, we should investigate them. Stamping out the many spurious claims will mean IHAT is better able to focus on the few credible ones.
The papers bring up the case of Rachel Webster, a former captain in the Adjutant General’s Corps who was arrested in 2014.
An MOD spokesperson said:
A compensation claim made following an arrest in 2014 has been settled. When claims are received they are considered on the basis of whether or not the MOD has a legal liability to pay. Where there is a proven legal liability, compensation is paid.
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