Paris attacks highlight need for UN sanctioned action in Syria

In response to the spate of terror attacks by ISIS culminating in Paris on Friday November 13, I consider how the UK should respond.

My article about terror in Paris was first published in Brighton Argus on Tuesday November 17.

THE UN must endorse military action to eradicate Islamic State (IS) and broker peace in Syria.

Paris suffered a vicious assault on its democracy, culture and young people, innocents caught in the crossfire. Meticulously planned, indiscriminate violence.

French military action in Syria is a likely motive.

Read a longer article here about the need for a coherent diplomatic and military strategy involving the UN to defeat ISIS. First published on the News Hub on Thursday November 19.

This is the second terrorist attack on Paris this year. However, the earlier attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo was provoked by inflammatory cartoons ridiculing Prophet Mohammed and targeted.

Read my article about Charlie Hebdo here.

Last Friday’s attack was on a far greater scale.

President Francois Hollande said the attacks were “an act of war”, echoing George Bush’s “war on terror” after 9/11. This is playing into the hands of the terrorists.

Diplomacy, better relations between the US and Russia and, above all, endorsement of all military action by the UN are the best hope of eradicating Islamic State and negotiating peace in Syria and Iraq.

 Arab states, Arab Sunnis, need to participate in all military action because Nato and Western democracies are the enemy of IS and thus unable to broker peace alone.

 

The mistake in Iraq was to invade without UN agreement.

MPs voted against military action in Syria in 2013, shaken by the bloodbath in Iraq and their part in it and Islamic State gradually filled the vacuum left when Saddam Hussein was deposed.

Labour MP Peter Kyle for Hove voted in favour of air strikes in Syria. Read what he said here, first published in Brighton and Hove News.