Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Prime Minister's commitment to work with the US to destroy IS, what their strategy is for doing so.

The UK is part of a Global Coalition of over 60 countries and organisations who have come together to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Coalition agreed that we will need to make concerted efforts on five lines: Military, Foreign Fighters, Finance, Stabilisation and Strategic Communications. The UK is playing a key role to support concerted efforts on these five lines.

The UK is a leading contributor to the military efforts to defeat ISIL. We are upgrading local forces – the Iraqi Security Forces (including Kurdish fighters) and the Syrian Moderate Opposition – through the provision of training and equipment and the RAF is part of the Coalition’s air support which is helping to defeat ISIL on the ground.

We are countering ISIL’s efforts to recruit foreign fighters by identifying recruitment networks, encouraging the exchange of information on travel routes, and ensuring Coalition members are sharing information to combat the flow of these fighters.

We have been working to prevent ISIL’s use of the international financial system and cutting off sources of funding, whether from oil smuggling, kidnap for ransom, foreign donations, or the trade in looted antiquities.

The Coalition is committed to providing stabilisation support in Iraq. Essential services, civilian planning, local government and police will be needed in liberated areas to ensure relief and recovery, so that displaced people can choose to return to their homes safely. In the meantime, the UK is providing humanitarian assistance to the millions of people affected by ISIL’s brutality and chaos in Syria, Iraq and the region. The UK is one of the co-leads for the international working group on strategic communications. We are enabling credible voices across the region to speak out against ISIL’s atrocities and to encourage people not to support or promote ISIL.
We also support Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi and his efforts to lead an inclusive government and advance national reconciliation.