MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) – Air strikes alone are not enough to defeat the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization as ground forces are also needed, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an essay published Monday.
"Air power is a major component of this, to be sure, especially with the new weapons available to us. But – and this is the hard truth – air power alone will not suffice. They can be hemmed in, harried and to a degree contained by air power. But they can't be defeated by it,” Blair stated in his essay “The Way Ahead,” posted on the Tony Blair Faith Foundation website.
The former prime minister specified that the ground presence of foreign armies should be limited. “However we're not talking here about armies of occupation. We are, in certain situations where it is necessary and subject to all proper limitations, talking about committing ground forces, especially those with special capabilities,” he noted.
Blair also warned Western countries not to consider fundamentalist Islam part of modern society. “The truth is that Islamism, unless fundamentally reformed, is incompatible with modern economies and open-minded, religiously pluralistic societies. This truth has to be recognised,” Blair wrote.
Earlier in September, US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande announced they would carry out air strikes on IS positions. Obama, as well as his French counterpart, ruled out sending ground troops to the area.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq and seized vast areas in both countries, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control, killing thousands of Shiites, Christians, and Yazidis, and forced thousands of people to flee territories under the group’s control.
