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Your support makes all the difference.The militant group Isis is “failing and disintegrating”, the Foreign Secretary has said, as Iraqi and Kurdish troops advance on the occupied city of Mosul.
Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that the group was being “routed on the battlefield”, and that half of its former territory in Iraq and a quarter in Syria had been recaptured.
“Daesh’s defeats on the battlefield are helping to counter its ideological narrative,” Mr Johnson said.
“As one defeat succeeds another they are increasingly being seen for what they are – a failing and disintegrating movement.”
The minister said Iraqi and Kurdish forces had now reached the outskirts of Mosul itself, partly with the help of Coalition, including British, air power.
The allied forces attacked the city, which has been held by Isis for two years, on three fronts, starting in mid-October.
The Foreign Secretary however sounded a note of caution, adding: “In some areas Daesh have mounted fierce resistance, dispatching scores of suicide bombers.
“The House can be sure that Daesh will be driven from Mosul, but this is the toughest task that Iraq’s security forces have yet encountered and success will take time.”
Emily Thornberry, Labour's shadow foreign secretary, agreed that Isis was "a movement that is embattled, weakened, and in retreat".
Mr Johnson also used his statement to call on Russia to end the bombing of civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo, where it has been accused of committing war crimes.
“This House should be in no doubt that the attack on eastern Aleppo has little do with defeating terrorism and everything to do with preserving Assad’s blood-soaked regime,” he said.
“Wherever Daesh has lost ground in Syria this has frequently owed nothing to Assad or his backers. In August it was the Syrian democratic forces that threw Daesh out of the town of Manbij.”
He however added that Russia could “win acclaim from the world” by ending the bombing of civilians and persuading Assad to return to negotiations.
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