UK Signals Greater Military Role in Syria

In his clearest signal yet that the U.K. plans to increase its military role in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron said the country needs to play a greater role in the battle against the Islamic State.

“We know that we have to defeat ISIL [ISIS], we have to destroy this caliphate, whether it is in Iraq or in Syria,” Cameron told NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

The comments came a day after the Ministry of Defence acknowledged British forces had already carried out airstrikes over Syria while embedded with coalition forces, including surveillance and air-to-air refueling over Syria and attacks on neighboring Iraq, the Associated Press reported.

The prime minister is also reportedly seeking support from the opposition Labour Party for a national unified position on the strategy. The Labour Party scuttled a government attempt to join U.S. attacks on Syria in 2013 over the Assad government’s use of chemical weapons.

Army Launches Offensive in Assad Heartland

In a new surge against Islamist rebels, the Syrian military has carried out air strikes and seized villages close to Bashar al-Assad’s ancestral homeland in the coastal province of Latakia.

The intensified air strikes were intended to disrupt rebel supply lines close to the border with Turkey, an army source was quoted telling state media.

Latakia province houses Syria’s biggest port and is a bastion of Assad’s Alawite sect, however Sunni Muslim jihadists, the Nusra Front, control numerous villages in the nearby borderlands, according to Reuters.

The army official was quoted as saying that five villages and hilltops, including Beit Khadour, Beit Zaifa, Tel alKhadar and Jabal al Rahmaliya, had been recaptured by the military.

Turkey Detains 500 at Syrian Border

Turkey detained almost 500 people trying to flee to their country from Syria on Saturday, the army said. The army said in a statement on Sunday that “488 people were detained by the land forces command border units while trying to cross into Turkey from Syria and 26 while attempting to cross into Syria from Turkey,” according to Agence France-Presse.

Turkey has taken in a remarkable 1.8 million refugees since the start of the conflict in 2011, but has recently complained it is shouldering an unfair burden compared to European countries.

The move has led some to speculate if it is reconsidering the “open-door” policy championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has long been under international pressure to tighten the security of its volatile 911-km border with Syria to cut the flow of jihadists who try to join the ranks of ISIS militants that have made gains in Iraq and Syria, the news agency said.

Recommended Reads

• The Daily Beast: On ‘The Black Road’ Into Europe With Syria’s Refugees
• The Washington Post: In New Sign of Assad’s Troubles, Syria’s Druze Turn Away from President
• Spiegel: ‘I’m Not a Butcher’: An Interview with Islamic State’s Architect of Death