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Cameron Says ISIL Direct Threat to UK’s National Interests

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UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday that the ISIL (the Islamic State) group poses a serious threat to the country’s national interests.

Updated 3:49 p.m. Moscow Time

MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday that the ISIL (the Islamic State) group poses a serious threat to the country’s national interests.

“Is there a threat to the British people? The answer is yes," Cameron said in his address to parliament adding that ISIL is a “terrorist group unlike those we dealt before.”

According to Cameron, the threat of radicalization has already spread to Britain as young people are leaving the country to join the ranks of the IS.

"I have to say this is a counsel of despair. The threat of radicalization is already here. Young people have left our country to go and fight with these extremists," Cameron stressed.

British MPs are currently debating whether or not the United Kingdom would take part in international airstrikes against the IS militant group in Iraq, currently conducted by the United States and their allies.

The Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting against the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, IS militants extended their attacks to northern and western Iraq. The group has seized vast areas in both countries and declared a caliphate on the territories under its control.

According to the estimates by Russia's Security Council, the number of IS militants may be as high as 50,000 people and it continues growing, as the supporters of radical Islam from Europe, United States and CIS leave their countries to fight alongside the group.

Earlier in September, US President Barack Obama unveiled a strategy for defeating the IS. The plan includes forming an international coalition against the organization. Since then the United States has carried out a number of airstrikes against IS positions in Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates reportedly took part in the latest US-led attacks.

 

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