Hammond calls for intensifing work with Iraqis to defeat Daesh

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Tuesday said the Iraqis needed support in terms of logistics, air cover and training, but insisted that offering ground troops was not an option, the BBC reported.

Britain already has more than 100 personnel in the Kurdish north where they have trained 1,200 peshmerga fighters in combat infantry skills including sharpshooting, first aid, counter-improvised explosive device (IED) operations and weapons maintenance.

Hammond said Paris conference was "an opportunity to reaffirm our support for Iraqi forces, and assess what more we can do as a coalition".

Measures being examined included efforts to cut off Daesh's funding, stem the flow of foreign fighters, efforts to undermine its ideology and measures to stabilisz areas recaptured from Daesh.

Asked whether it was time for Western nations to put troops on the ground to fight Daesh, Hammond told the BBC: "Absolutely not. That would be completely the wrong thing to do. It would have a negative impact on the situation.

"The one thing that everybody in the Iraqi government does agree on is that this is a challenge that has to be met by Iraqis.

"Of course they need help from their friends in logistic support, in air cover, they need specialist capabilities, they need training and they need financing as well.

"But what they do not need is foreign troops on the ground in Iraq. That would only exacerbate the situation."

Hammond added: "We have to work with the Iraqis to train new forces, to organize the militias, to continue the process of getting the militias under the effective control of the government, so that we can over time consolidate, push Daesh back and then sustainably hold the ground that is recovered from Daesh, preferably with forces that come from the areas in question."