UK could send 'substantial' number of non-combat troops to support war on Isis in Syria

Philip Hammond signals that the UK is ready to support a new Saudi-led Islamic military coalition

The Foreign Secretary repeated the Government’s opposition to deploying soldiers in combat roles (Getty Images)

Britain could send a “very substantial” number of non-combat troops to Syria to support fighters attempting to halt the advance of Isis, the Foreign Secretary has said.

Philip Hammond signalled that the UK was ready to support a new Saudi-led Islamic military coalition which has been set up to combat the jihadist forces controlling wide areas of Syria and Iraq.

Mr Hammond repeated the Government’s opposition to deploying soldiers in combat roles, but told MPs it had not ruled out supplying British logistics, surveillance and intelligence support for forces confronting Isis. The UK could “provide a very substantial reinforcement to any troops that were deployed on the ground”, he said.

In a Commons statement he said there were no reports of civilians being killed by British air strikes in Syria or Iraq. The Foreign Secretary also warned that Russian air strikes in Syria in the past two weeks had mainly targeted forces challenging President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Its intervention had enabled Isis “to seek advantage on the ground”, he said.

Using another name for Isis, Mr Hammond protested it was “unacceptable that Russian action is weakening the opposition and thus giving advantage to the very Daesh forces they claim to be against”.

Mr Hammond said: “The truth is we simply don’t know what the Russian strategy is... and actually my assessment is most people in the Russian system don’t know.”