Kurdish peshmerga fighters (Reuters/Stringer)
nusantaraIntlNews - "Pasukan pakar kecil" askar British di Iraq utara melatih pejuang Kurdish berjuang yg di panggil Negara Islam (IS) militan, Kementerian Pertahanan berkata.
Pasukan dozen orang dari Rejimen Yorkshire telah dihantar ke ibu negara Kurdish dari Erbil dan melatih pasukan Peshmerga dalam penggunaan mesingan berat yang dibekalkan kepada mereka oleh UK bulan lepas, UK laporan media.
"Pelatih tentera bukan pertempuran" akan kekal di kawasan itu, di mana pejuang Kurdish yang menentang Negara Islam (juga dikenali sebagai ISIS, atau Isil) selama kira-kira seminggu.
Penugasan itu diberikan lampu hijau oleh Setiausaha Pertahanan Michael Fallon, seorang jurucakap MoD disahkan. Misi itu dilihat sebagai sebahagian daripada pertempuran di UK yang lebih luas terhadap IS.
Pada bulan September, UK mengumumkan bahawa ia telah membekalkan 40 mesingan berat dan hampir setengah juta butir peluru untuk "memberikan kuasa-kuasa Peshmerga Kurdish kuasa tembakan tambahan untuk membantu mereka mempertahankan barisan hadapan, melindungi orang awam dan menolak kembali Isil pendahuluan."
British military advisers sent to N. Iraq to train
anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters . . .
A "small specialist team" of British soldiers is in northern Iraq training Kurdish fighters battling so-called Islamic State (IS) militants, the Ministry of Defense has said.
The dozen-man team from the Yorkshire Regiment was dispatched to the Kurdish capital of Erbil and is training Peshmerga forces in the use of heavy machine guns supplied to them by the UK last month, UK media report. The “non-combat army trainers” will remain in the area, where Kurdish fighters are resisting Islamic State (also known as ISIS, or ISIL) for around a week.
The deployment was given the green light by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, an MoD spokeswoman confirmed. The mission is viewed as part and parcel of the UK’s broader battle against IS.
In September, the UK announced it was supplying 40 heavy machine guns and nearly half a million rounds of ammunition to “give the Kurdish Peshmerga forces additional firepower in order to help them defend the front line, protect civilians and push back ISIL advances.”
Sebuah pesawat pejuang Peshmerga Kurdish berkelulusan roket pelancar bom tangan kerana beliau mengambil kedudukan di kawasan yang menghadap kampung Baretle (latar belakang), yang dikawal oleh Negara Islam, Khazir, di pinggir Mosul September 8, 2014 (A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds a a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as he takes up position in an area overlooking Baretle village (background), which is controlled by the Islamic State, in Khazir, on the edge of Mosul September 8, 2014 (Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)
Kemudian bulan lepas, parlimen UK mengundi hangat memberi kuasa serangan udara terhadap Iraq. Sejak 2 minggu lalu, Tentera Udara Diraja Tornado GR4s telah mengambil bahagian dalam kempen pengeboman Amerika Syarikat ke bela-kang untuk menewaskan kemaraan pejuang IS.
Dalam menjelang undi, Fallon berkata angkatan tentera Britain akan terlibat di Iraq untuk "jarak jauh" sekurang-kurangnya tiga atau 4 tahun untuk kekalahan IS.
Bercakap kepada majalah parlimen UK The House, Fallon berkata Britain mem-punyai "kepentingan sangat secara terus" berjuang IS untuk menghentikan seran-gan pengganas ke atas tanah British.
Later last month, the UK parliament voted overwhelming to authorize airstrikes against in Iraq. Over the past two weeks, Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s have taken part in US-led bombing campaigns to beat back the advance of IS fighters.
In the run-up to the vote, Fallon said Britain’s armed forces would be involved in Iraq for the “long haul” of at least three or four years to defeat IS.
Speaking to UK parliament magazine The House, Fallon said Britain has a “very direct interest” in battling IS to stop terrorist attacks on British soil.
Menggunakan peluru GR4s Tornado belerang dan Paveway IV bom berpandu dalam serangan ke atas ketepatan #ISIL kubu berhampiran Ramadi (Tornado GR4s use Brimstone missiles and Paveway IV guided bombs in precision attack on #ISIL stronghold near Ramadi) 7:47 PM - 8 Oct 2014
Lord Richards, bekas ketua angkatan tentera di UK, baru-baru ini memberi amaran bahawa pengeboman IS sasaran tidak akan cukup untuk mengalahkan mereka. Beliau berhujah ‘He argued’ bahawa tentera darat Barat perlu dikerahkan ke Iraq untuk berperang melawan tentera IS.
Bercakap kepada Huffington Post, Richards berkata: "Jika but barat berada di atas tanah, jika tentera-tentera barat adalah utk digunakan untuk masalah ini, ia boleh menjadi lebih daripada enam bulan."
Parlimen telah kekal secara mendalam dibahagikan atas apa-apa rancangan yang akan melihat buku-buku Inggeris di dalam tanah di Syria atau Iraq.
Pada hari Khamis, Fallon mengulangi panggilan dari sekutu NATO bagi kerajaan Turki untuk menghantar tentera ke rantau ini. Fallon bagaimanapun berkata Par-limen Britain tidak akan menyokong lanjutan serangan udara British di Syria walaupun langkah itu penting untuk menjamin kekalahan IS.
IS kini menguasai swathes besar wilayah di Syria dan Iraq. Pada bulan Jun, kum-pulan yg diisytiharkan itu telah mewujudkan khilafah, atau negara Islam, men-capai dari Aleppo di Syria untuk Diyala Governorate di Iraq timur.
Perhatian antarabangsa sejak kebelakangan ini telah bertukar ke bandar Kobani di Aleppo Governorate di utara Syria, di mana kuasa-kuasa Kurdish telah kehilangan tanah terhadap militan IS berikutan peningkatan 16 September untuk mengambil bandar. Lebih daripada 550 orang telah terbunuh sejak pengepungan bermula, dengan militan IS mengawal hanya lebih satu 1/3 daripada bandar.
Walaupun beberapa serangan udara 50 ke atas kedudukan IS oleh Amerika Sya-rikat di seluruh Kobani, pegawai Amerika Syarikat berkata militan boleh menda-patkan kawalan ke bandar dalam masa beberapa hari.
Lord Richards, a former head of the armed forces in the UK, has recently warned that bombing IS targets would not be enough to defeat them. He argued that Western ground troops should be deployed to Iraq to battle against IS forces.
Speaking to the Huffington Post, Richards said: “If western boots were on the ground, if western armies were to be applied to the problem, it could be over in six months.”
Parliament has remained deeply divided over any plans that would see UK books in the ground in Syria or Iraq.
On Thursday, Fallon reiterated calls from NATO allies for the Turkish government to send troops into the region. Fallon, however, said Britain’s parliament would not support an extension of British airstrikes in Syria despite the move being vital to secure the defeat of IS.
IS currently controls large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. In June, the group declared it had established a caliphate, or Islamic state, reaching from Aleppo in Syria to Diyala Governorate in eastern Iraq.
International attention in recent times has turned to the town of Kobani in the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, where Kurdish forces have been losing ground against IS militants following a September 16 surge to take the city. More than 550 people have been killed since the siege began, with IS militants controlling just over a third of the town.
Despite some 50 aerial strikes on IS positions by the United States around Kobani, US officials say the militants could gain control of the city within a matter of days.
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