Colonel Bob Stewart: Why Britain might have to negotiate with Assad over Syria

The current Daesh order of battle was set up by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who established the so-called worldwide caliphate on June 29, 2014.

I understand from my friends that Daesh terrorists are extremely well trained.

My contacts say that training courses are sophisticated and last at least three months.

Weapons training ranges from 
pistols to anti-aircraft weapons, and some people can drive tanks and fire them.

Daesh has further strengthened its military capability by capturing large quantities and varieties of weapons in places such as Mosul.

It has improved its capacity to carry out subsequent operations and obtain even more equipment.

Its weaponry includes T-54 tanks – I know how potent they are because I was struck by one in my own armoured vehicle – T-72s and M1 Abrams.

It includes armoured cars and Humvees, surface-to-air missiles, BM-21s, which used to be called Stalin’s organ, howitzers and guns, as well as anti-tank missiles such as Stinger.

Daesh is no pushover, which explains why some of the ground forces ranged against it have not made better progress.

We are about to consider extending Royal Air Force combat operations to include Syria as well as Iraq.

To me, that makes military sense. From Daesh’s point of view, there is no Sykes-Picot line between Iraq and Syria.

Military orthodoxy states that wars cannot be won from the air, and that the enemy must be beaten on the ground.

I agree, but let me ponder that for a moment.

We won the air campaign in the Battle of Britain in 1940, and saved our country from invasion by Nazi Germany.

We should remember that Churchill then made a pact with Stalin against Hitler.

Today, should we not consider opening a dialogue with President Assad’s regime to defeat the huge threat of Daesh, which is enemy to Syria, the United Kingdom and, indeed, the whole world?

In 1999, in the Kosovo campaign, air power was crucial, but we needed ground troops too. Air power won it.

In 2011, colleagues will remember that it was from the air that the inhabitants of Benghazi in Libya were saved from having their throats cut, as promised by Colonel Gaddafi. Obviously, it went wrong from there.

In 2014, Daesh forces were prevented from advancing and taking Baghdad in Iraq, mainly by US air power. Troops were needed then. And today Daesh is severely constrained within its territory because any force that it concentrates could easily be identified and destroyed by our air power. Remember, the Royal Air Force now contributes 30 percent of the intelligence above Syria.

Military campaigns are fought in phases. I accept that the first military phase in beating Daesh may well be to destroy or severely restrict its activities from the air, then soldiers with rifles need to exploit that advantage.

I hope that such forces come from Middle East countries, but I would not bet on it.

Finally, I believe that to destroy Daesh in Syria and in Iraq, we need to work with the Governments of Syria and Iraq.

We may also, at some stage, need 
to use our own Armed Forces too, because they may be needed to protect our country by operating in the Middle East yet again.

Colonel Bob Stewart was an United Nations commander in Bosnia. He’s now a Tory MP and this is the text of his House of Commons speech on the Middle East.