Britain is dragged deeper into the Iraq conflict: 150 more special forces are on the way as minister says the mission will take MONTHS

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Defence Secretary says mission has escalated beyond a humanitarian one</span></b></h1> <ul class="article-summary news" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Prime Minister warns the situation may require military action</span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">British military planes flying deeper into Iraq to capture surveillance footage</span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Footage of jihadists used to help Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the ground</span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Soldiers from Yorkshire Regiment in the Kurdish region last week</span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At least 1,000 Royal Marines to be deployed to Jordan in exercise with US</span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kurdish and US forces set to take back strategically important Mosul Dam</span></b></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">New deployment of 150 special forces troops likely to begin later this week</span></b></li> </ul> <div class="author-section mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div class="author-section mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By <a class="author" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=David+Williams" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">DAVID WILLIAMS</a> and <a class="author" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Jack+Doyle+for+the+Daily+Mail" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">JACK DOYLE, FOR THE DAILY MAIL</a></span></div> <div class="byline-section mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Britain was dragged deeper into the Iraq crisis last night as it emerged another 150 special forces troops are being deployed.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the mission had escalated beyond a humanitarian one and could last for months.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">British forces are now helping Iraq to ‘combat’ the rise of Islamic State and its extreme form of terrorism, he said. And in his most uncompromising intervention to date, Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the situation may now require ‘military action to go after the terrorists’. </span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Change of tack: Michael Fallon, pictured meeting British forces at the RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus this weekend, said the mission had escalated beyond a humanitarian one and could last for months" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="0" height="440" id="i-eab6bf27a18ab027" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727439-20991F6700000578-629_634x440.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+7</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Change of tack: Michael Fallon, pictured meeting British forces at the RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus this weekend, said the mission had escalated beyond a humanitarian one and could last for months</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said the Islamist fanatics of IS had to be stopped before they became strong enough to launch attacks on British soil.</span></div> <div class="relatedItemsTopBorder" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2727439/Britain-dragged-deeper-Iraq-conflict-150-special-forces-way-minister-says-mission-months.html#ixzz3AjAwQ2Ck" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2727439/Britain-dragged-deeper-Iraq-conflict-150-special-forces-way-minister-says-mission-months.html#ixzz3AjAwQ2Ck</a><br />Follow us: <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rw?id=bBOTTqvd0r3Pooab7jrHcU&u=MailOnline" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@MailOnline on Twitter</a> | <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=bBOTTqvd0r3Pooab7jrHcU&u=DailyMail" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">DailyMail on Facebook</a></span><br /> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr Cameron spoke amid a series of dramatic developments on the ground that will fuel concerns about mission creep and prompt fresh demands for the recall of Parliament:</span><br /> <ul style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">British military planes are flying deeper into Iraq to capture surveillance footage of jihadist fighters which is being used to help Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the ground.</span></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Regular soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment were in the Kurdish region last week – despite Downing Street’s assurances there would be no ‘boots on the ground’.  </span></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At least 1,000 Royal Marines are being deployed to Jordan in a long-planned joint military exercise with the US.</span></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kurdish and US forces made a major advance against IS – and are poised to take back the strategically important Mosul Dam.</span></li> </ul> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Mission: A RAF Tornado lands at RAF Akrotiri. British military planes are flying deeper into Iraq to capture surveillance footage of jihadist fighters" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="1" height="373" id="i-eab0df41aab9bf37" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727439-20991F0700000578-652_634x373.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+7</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mission: A RAF Tornado lands at RAF Akrotiri. British military planes are flying deeper into Iraq to capture surveillance footage of jihadist fighters</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Purpose: Britain has limited its role to aid drops, surveillance and transporting supplies to Kurdish forces" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="2" height="356" id="i-9ca7be41ab121cc4" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727439-20991F0F00000578-965_634x356.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+7</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Purpose: Britain has limited its role to aid drops, surveillance and transporting supplies to Kurdish forces</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="floatRHS" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 308px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Church accuses PM of failing Christians" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="3" height="629" id="i-ea1a7477c9706db4" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727439-209A233500000578-904_306x629.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+7</span></span></div> </div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The new deployment of 150 special forces troops is likely to begin later this week. It will include signals specialists and electronics experts with equipment capable of intercepting voice transmissions at a distance of more than 150 miles. </span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There will also be men from a new SBS unit which will be used to monitor sensitive areas of the Jordanian border.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Earlier, Mr Cameron said Britain should use its military prowess to stop Islamists creating ‘a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean’. He said the UK was ‘in  the middle of a generational  struggle against a poisonous and  extremist ideology’.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Prime Minister added: ‘If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain.’</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Until now, Britain has limited its role to aid drops, surveillance and transporting supplies to Kurdish forces. But Mr Cameron, writing in a Sunday newspaper, said: ‘True security will only be achieved if we use all our resources – aid, diplomacy, our military prowess – to help bring about a more stable world.’</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He added: ‘We need a firm security response, whether that is military action to go after the terrorists, international co-operation on intelligence and counter-terrorism or uncompromising action against terrorists at home.’</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While saying he did not back full-scale military involvement and ‘sending armies to fight or occupy’, Mr Cameron left open the possibility of Britain taking on a more direct role in supporting Iraqi and Kurdish troops on the ground.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Speaking on a visit to the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, Mr Fallon said: ‘This is not simply a humanitarian mission. We and other countries in Europe are determined to do what we can to help the government of Iraq combat this new and very extreme form of terrorism.’</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr Fallon revealed that troops from 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment flew in as part of preparations for a helicopter mission to save stranded members of the Yazidi group on a mountainside. They were on the ground for 24 hours before flying back to Cyprus after the operation was called off.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Addressing airmen and soldiers at the base, Mr Fallon said: ‘This mission isn’t over. The humanitarian needs are there…There may well now be in the next few weeks and months other ways that we may need to help save life, protect people. We are going to need all of you again and the surveillance you are able to give us.’</span></div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Advance: A Kurdish peshmerga fighter close to the strategically important Mosul Dam, which Kurdish and US forces are poised to take back" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="4" height="424" id="i-efe3bd01e8dc9b62" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727439-20992A3200000578-703_634x424.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+7</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Advance: A Kurdish peshmerga fighter close to the strategically important Mosul Dam, which Kurdish and US forces are poised to take back</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="moduleFull" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <br /> <div class="item" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <div id="v-3735115909001" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 636px;"> <div class="videoplayer-large" style="height: 358px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 636px;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"></a><br /> <div class="videoplayer-title-bg" style="box-shadow: rgb(51, 51, 51) 0px 3px 5px; height: 26px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 636px;"> </div> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </a> <div class="videoplayer-title" style="left: 6px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 4px;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">US military releases footage of air strikes on Mosul Dam</a></div> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="btnBg" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 6px; border-bottom-right-radius: 6px; border-top-left-radius: 6px; border-top-right-radius: 6px; box-shadow: rgb(51, 51, 51) 2px 2px 3px; height: 85px; left: 275.5px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 140px; width: 85px;"> </div> <span class="playbtn" style="border-color: transparent transparent transparent rgb(255, 255, 255); border-style: dashed dashed dashed solid; border-width: 0.53em 0.53em 0.53em 1em; display: inline-block; height: 0px; left: 289.5px; position: absolute; right: 0.25em; top: 151.5px; vertical-align: middle; width: 0px;"></span><center style="text-align: left;"> <img class="plcHlder" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/video-undefined-209A22F100000578-669_636x358.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: 358px; margin: 0px; max-width: 636px; padding: 0px; width: 636px;" /></center> </a></div> <div class="news" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wocc videoplayer-keyline" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; height: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In recent weeks IS fighters have seized vast swathes of land in Syria and Iraq, advancing towards Baghdad and prompting US air strikes.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yesterday, US warplanes helped by Kurdish forces were on the brink of recapturing the Mosul Dam, which supplies water and electricity to northern Iraq, amid ‘fierce resistance’ from Islamists. It was reported yesterday that another 300 Yazidi men from the Sinjar mountain area are among their victims, with some beheaded in front of their own families.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">British military planes are filming surveillance footage on jihadist fighters which is passed to the US and used to help Kurdish and Iraqi forces.   The UK has more than 100 members of the SAS, SBS, Reconnaissance Regiment and signals specialists in Baghdad and  around Irbil.</span></div> </div>

Britain is dragged deeper into the Iraq conflict: 150 more special forces are on the way as minister says the mission will take MONTHS

Defence Secretary says mission has escalated beyond a humanitarian one Prime Minister warns the situation may require military action ...

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Ukraine says may block Russian aid convoy

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display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid4" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 300px;"> <div class="assetBuddy" name="ukraine convoy ss"> <span modulename="E0813142133_475484" name="trackingEnabledModule" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><br /> <div class="module" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 300px;"> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 300px;"> <div class="feature" style="float: left; padding: 0px; width: 300px;"> <div class="photo" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 4px 0px; position: relative;"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody> <tr><td valign="middle"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR4263W" modid="worldNews|Text|E0813142133_475484" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;"></a><br /> <div class="slideshowOverlay" style="background-image: url(http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_overlay_slideshow.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; left: 0px; position: absolute; width: 83px;"> </div> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR4263W" modid="worldNews|Text|E0813142133_475484" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;"> <img alt="Photo" border="0" src="http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140812&t=2&i=963591107&w=120&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=2014-08-12T205130Z_3_GM1EA8C1SH501_RTRMADP_0_UKRAINE-CRISIS-RUSSIA-AID" style="border: none; outline: none;" title="Photo" /></a></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 20px;"> <span modulename="E0813142133_475484" name="trackingEnabledModule" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR4263W" modid="worldNews|Text|E0813142133_475484" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Russian convoy heads to Ukraine</a></span></h2> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"> <span modulename="E0813142133_475484" name="trackingEnabledModule" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Russian convoy sets off for eastern Ukraine.  <span class="inlineLinks" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR4263W" modid="worldNews|Text|E0813142133_475484" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Slideshow</a></span> </span></div> </div> </div> </div> <span modulename="E0813142133_475484" name="trackingEnabledModule" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div> </div> </div> <span id="articleText" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span id="midArticle_start"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span class="focusParagraph"></span></span><br /> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Reuters) - A Russian convoy of trucks carrying tonnes of humanitarian aid left on Tuesday for eastern <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/ukraine?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Ukraine</a></span>, where government forces are closing in on pro-Russian rebels, but Kiev said it would not allow the vehicles to cross onto its territory.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Reuters) - A Russian convoy of trucks carrying tonnes of humanitarian aid left on Tuesday for eastern <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/ukraine?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Ukraine</a></span>, where government forces are closing in on pro-Russian rebels, but Kiev said it would not allow the vehicles to cross onto its territory.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> Kiev and Western governments warned Moscow against any attempt to turn the operation into a military intervention by stealth in a region facing a humanitarian crisis after four months of warfare.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> "This cargo will be reloaded onto other transport vehicles (at the border) by the Red Cross," Ukrainian presidential aide Valery Chaly told journalists.</div> <span class="focusParagraph" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><span id="midArticle_1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><span id="midArticle_2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><span id="midArticle_3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We will not allow any escort by the emergencies ministry of Russia or by the military (onto Ukrainian territory). Everything will be under the control of the Ukrainian side," he said.</span></div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Russia said it would transfer the convoy to the aegis of the International Committee of the Red Cross, but made no reference to the demand the goods be reloaded. The European Union said the aid would have to be verified.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "No political or any other objectives must be pursued," EU humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva told a news conference. "The content of humanitarian aid must be exactly that, humanitarian aid, and obviously cannot be taken on face value."</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Russian media said the column of 280 trucks had left from near Moscow and it would take a couple of days for it to make the 1,000 km (620 mile) journey to Ukraine's eastern regions where rebel fighters seek union with Russia.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Western countries believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has whipped up nationalist fervor in Russia through the state-controlled media since annexing Crimea in March, might be spurred to fresh action since separatists in their main redoubt of Donetsk are now encircled by Kiev government forces.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Rossiya 24 TV showed a 3-km long line of containers and trucks loaded with crates of drinking water and other products stretched along a road with workers loading sacks of aid. A Russian orthodox priest marched across a line of trucks, spraying them with holy water before they left.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "It has all been agreed with <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/ukraine?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Ukraine</a></span>," Business FM radio quoted Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying of an operation publicized with fanfare on Russian TV channels.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> The U.S., French and Australian governments voiced concern that Russia, sole international supporter of rebels in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east, could use the humanitarian deliveries to carry out a covert operation to help fighters who appear to be on the verge of defeat.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> BITTER FIGHTING</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, NATO said on Monday that there was a "high probability" Moscow might now intervene militarily in Ukraine.[ID:nL6N0QH2YV]</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Itar-Tass news agency said the convoy carried 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. It included 400 tonnes of cereals, 100 tonnes of sugar, 62 tonnes of baby food, 54 tonnes of medical equipment and medicine, 12,000 sleeping bags and 69 generators.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Thousands of people are believed to be short of water, electricity and medical aid in Donetsk and in the border town of Luhansk due to bitter fighting, involving air strikes and missile attacks.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> U.N. agencies say well over 1,000 people have been killed, including government forces, rebels and civilians, in the conflict in which a Malaysian airliner was downed on July 17 with the deaths of all 298 people on board.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> A further six Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action overnight, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said, bringing to more than 570 the number of government forces killed since conflict erupted in April.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Kiev and its Western allies say Russia, which opposes the new leadership's pro-Western policies, has been funneling tanks, missiles and other heavy weapons to the rebels for months. Moscow denies this.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "TRANSPARENT ARTIFICE"</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> With the humanitarian crisis growing by the day in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin might welcome the opportunity to garner sympathy if the Russian convoy arrives at the border and is turned away by the Ukrainians.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> If, and when, the cargo crosses into Ukraine it is expected to come through a border crossing point just north of the city of Kharkiv.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> A former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, who has been involved in tentative mediation with the rebels said it would then travel down through north-eastern Ukraine to Luhansk under an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) escort.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: "Our hope is that in the next days and weeks, we can find a way for President Petro Poroshenko and Ukraine to be able to work with the Russians to provide the humanitarian assistance necessary in the east."</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters: "Any intervention by Russia into Ukraine under the guise of an humanitarian crisis would be seen for the transparent artifice that it is and Australia would condemn (it) in the strongest possible terms." [ID:nL4N0QI25I]</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: "We must be extremely careful because this (the convoy) could be a cover for the Russians to install themselves near Lugansk and Donetsk and put us before a done deed."</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="articleText" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span><span id="midArticle_15"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span><span id="midArticle_15"></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><br /> <div class="relatedTopicButtons" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"> </div> <br /> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kiev, <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=stephanienebehay&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Stephanie Nebehay</a> in Geneva and Polina Devitt in Moscow; Writing by <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=richard.balmforth&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none medium; text-decoration: none;">Richard Balmforth</a>)</div> </div>

Ukraine says may block Russian aid convoy

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One of the oldest Christian communities in the lands of Christ has been destroyed as the Sunni Caliphate spreads

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>It’s not difficult to see where the Christians have made political mistakes in the Middle East</b></span></div> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><br /></b></span></div> <div> <img src="webkit-fake-url://B5C89EE8-C25F-45D7-8769-72D813B69075/imagejpeg" /></div> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><br /></b></span></div> <div> <div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-507 inpage-widget-8099193 articleContent voicesArticleLayout" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 135px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px !important; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span class="storyTop " style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div style="outline: none; padding: 0px;"> For three years, the Arab revolutions cast “Palestine” and Palestinians to the fringe of memory in the Middle East. And now the new bloodbath in Gaza has pushed to the corner of our consciousness the continuing tragedy of the Christian exodus.</div> </span></div> <div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-507 inpage-widget-8099200 articleContent voicesArticleLayout" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 135px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px !important; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <div class="body " style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/last-few-iraqi-christians-flee-violence-and-threats-in-mosul-as-isis-continues-its-takeover-9622541.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" title="Last few Iraqi Christians flee violence and threats in Mosul as Isis continues its takeover">Christians of Mosul fled their cruel, new “Sunni Caliphate”</a>, photographs of the city’s Syriac-Catholic church, fire blazing from its windows, only made inside pages in the Middle East press.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That two of the world’s most-hated, born-again Christians – George W Bush is one and the other, a British citizen, is unmentionable – should have destroyed one of the oldest Christian communities in the lands of Christ, remains a most brutally ironic testament to their folly.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Both, of course, would no more acknowledge this today than the Christians of the Middle East can ignore it.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And inevitably, the Christians in the great cities lying between the Tigris and the Mediterranean are asking why no Muslims are condemning their tragedy.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="esi-gallery rendered" data-galleryid="9572548" id="gallery-9572548" style="clear: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 9999999;"> <div class="esi-gallery-wrapper hide" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <div class="esi-gallery-slides-container" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 9999999;"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><br /></b></span></div> <div> <div class="esi-gallery rendered" data-galleryid="9572548" id="gallery-9572548" style="clear: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 9999999;"> <div class="esi-gallery-wrapper hide" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <div class="esi-gallery-slides-container" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 9999999;"> <div class="esi-gallery-slides-title" style="background-image: url(http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/masthead/indy-masthead-gallery-50x50.png) !important; background-position: 5px 5px !important; margin: 0px 70px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding: 5px 0px 27px 64px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In pictures: The rise of Isis</span></div> <span class="esi-gallery-slide-counter" style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; top: 10px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1 of 42</span></span><div class="esi-gallery-slides-wrapper" data-defaultheight="400" style="height: 400px; margin: 10px 10px 20px; outline: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 999;"> <ul class="esi-gallery-slides" style="left: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 19530px;"> <li class="esi-gallery-slide active" data-slide="0" style="background-image: url(http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/gallery/ajax-loader.gif); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; 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height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="2" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis controls Syrian Aid" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9610514.ece/alternates/w50/pg-24-isis-2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="3" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9611257.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-1.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="4" style="float: left; 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height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="7" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9597156.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="8" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9597155.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-1.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="9" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9597157.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-3.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="10" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9583484.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-3.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="11" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9583482.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-1.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="12" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9583483.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="13" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9583486.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-4.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="14" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9583487.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-5.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="15" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraqi refugees" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578053.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-1.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="16" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraqi refugees" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578152.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-10.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="17" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578112.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-7.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="18" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578120.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-8v2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="19" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578127.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-9.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="20" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578071.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-3.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="21" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578082.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-4.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="22" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578062.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="23" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578098.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-6.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="24" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9578090.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-5.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="25" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Syria" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572713.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-11.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="26" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572634.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-5.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="27" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572681.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-9.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="28" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Iraq" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572644.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-6c2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="29" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572661.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-7.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="30" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572702.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-10.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="31" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572668.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-8.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="32" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572607.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-4.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="33" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Iraq" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572586.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-2.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="34" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraqi refugees" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572598.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-3.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="35" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraqi refugees" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9572573.ece/alternates/w50/iraq-1.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="36" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraqi refugees" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9570671.ece/alternates/w50/Iraq1-AP.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="37" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Isis fighters in Iraq" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9570670.ece/alternates/w50/Iraq2-Reuters.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="38" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9570669.ece/alternates/w50/Iraq3-EPA.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="39" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9569652.ece/alternates/w50/24-Iraq2-AP.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="40" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9569608.ece/alternates/w50/23-Iraq-AP.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> <li class="esi-gallery-thumb" data-thumb="41" style="float: left; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraq crisis" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9569619.ece/alternates/w50/23-Iraq2-AP.jpg" style="border: 4px solid rgb(59, 59, 59) !important; height: 50px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 50px;" /></span></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“What are the moderate Muslims saying?” the Lebanese Catholic Maronite Patriarch, Bechara Rai, asked acidly last week. “We do not hear the voices of those who denounce this.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Indeed not. The Caliphate’s threat to the Christians – convert, be taxed or die – contradict, in the words of the Chaldean Patriarch, Archbishop Louis Sako,  “1,400 years of history and of the life of the Muslim world and of coexistence between different religions and different peoples”. Archbishop Sako spoke, too, this week of how Iraq itself had become a “humanitarian, cultural and historical catastrophe”. But he added that Christians in the region must remember that the Koran demands respect for minorities and that the Christian people must also remain respectful to Muslims and show “patience and endurance”. Which, I would have thought, might be turning the other saintly cheek a bit too far.</span></div> <h5 style="border-bottom-width: 0px !important; margin: 0px 0px 12px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">READ MORE: <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-bishop-of-baghdad-warns-end-could-be-very-near-for-christianity-after-isis-takeover-9630554.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" title="Iraq crisis: End 'very near' for Christianity after Isis takeover, says Bishop">END 'VERY NEAR' FOR CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ, SAYS BISHOP</a><br style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-isis-orders-mosul-shop-keepers-to-cover-mannequins-9626869.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" title="Isis orders Mosul shop keepers to cover mannequins">ISIS ORDERS MOSUL SHOP KEEPERS TO COVER MANNEQUINS</a><br style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/conversion-of-iraq-as-isis-drives-christians-out-of-their-homes-the-groups-genocidal-intentions-take-on-horrible-clarity-9617651.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">EDITORIAL: GENOCIDAL INTENTIONS OF ISIS TAKE ON HORRIBLE CLARITY</a></span></span></h5> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But of course, the new Caliph of Mosul has applied restrictions to all Shia Muslims as well as the Yezidis, the Sabeans and the Turkomens. And there have been street demonstrations in Beirut just last week – jointly, by Muslims and Christians – to both condemn the treatment of the Christians of Mosul and the Palestinians of Gaza.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Religions may be different, was the message, but both the Christians and Muslims of the Middle East are Arabs.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now of course, it’s not difficult to see where the Christians have made political mistakes in the Middle East. Many Copts in Egypt supported the regime of President Hosni Mubarak when it was clear that the revolution would overwhelm him. And the Copts were also rather too quick to line up alongside Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when Egypt’s Field Marshal/President decided to destroy the Muslim Brotherhood.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Far too many of Lebanon’s Christian families aligned themselves with the Crusaders in the 11th century and far too many Christians fought each other as well as their Muslim, Druze and Palestinian brothers in the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war. In Syria today, the Christians accept the Assad regime – as surely they must when they can see the Caliphate spreading its laws through the Syrian city of Raqaa. Even the dead of the 1915 Armenian genocide (Christians too, remember) have not been spared; the church housing their bones in Deir el-Zour has been damaged. And I recall seeing with my own eyes the burned bibles and knife-ripped paintings in the church at Yabroud, just north of Damascus. I took some samples and showed them to lecture audiences in America and Europe – and in the Arab Gulf. I did not do so to suggest that Bashar al-Assad was a highly-enlightened man – but to show them what America’s great ally, Saudi Arabia, is doing.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For the Saudis lie behind this vast new force of the Caliphate, whose Islamist rulers have brought some of their Iraqi military assets – courtesy of George W again – to Syria and are now giving the Syrian army a tougher fight. Before the Caliphate spread to Mosul, the Syrian army was winning, or at least not losing. Now their soldiers are being executed, just like the Iraqi Shia army units captured near Mosul. And, of course, we continue to buttress this savagery in Syria while we loudly condemn the very same groups which are now ruling Mosul and threatening “democratic” Iraq. Saudi Arabia continues to fund the Wahabis among the Sunni forces while we continue to protect the Saudis, to shield them from all criticism, just as we did when 15 of the 9/11 hijackers turned out to be Saudis, just as we did when they funded the Taliban.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even in north-eastern Lebanon now, there are hidden Isis dangers. The Lebanese army, the only institution in the state which really works, has stationed men and equipment around the town of Ersal where many of the rebels against Assad have taken shelter. The Syrian army, when it stormed into Yabroud this year, effectively cut them off from Syrian territory. But if the Syrian military lose ground in the mountains south of Homs, then Isis forces might try to link up with Ersal and Isis would then be able to boast that its early title – The Islamist Army of Iraq and the Levant – had come true.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of course, we can comfort ourselves that the new Caliphate-regime is too crackpot to survive. Probably. But didn’t some people say exactly that when Ayatollah Khomeini flew back to Tehran, and when our favourite dictators took over the Middle East? Didn’t we used to call Gaddafi a crackpot? And didn’t he rule for quite a long time? The Christians of the Middle East don’t, therefore, take much comfort in this sort of jolly assumption. For if Isis has its rump north of Baghdad and its body across Syria, what happens when, even from the Lebanese border, its teeth can be heard snapping just a few miles from  the Mediterranean? </span><span class="orangeFullstop" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: #fe521b; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px !important; height: 10px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 10px;"></span></div> </div> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><br /></b></span></div> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><br /></b></span></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

One of the oldest Christian communities in the lands of Christ has been destroyed as the Sunni Caliphate spreads

It’s not difficult to see where the Christians have made political mistakes in the Middle East For three years, the Arab revolut...

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