Neil writes about his fears over the situation in the Middle East and the UK’s position

ONCE again and, this time, increasingly seriously, both Syria and Iraq are causing consternation across the globe. The appalling murder of David Baines and threats to other hostages underline this point.

Both countries are immediately subject to the activities of the Islamic State (IS) – a jihadist group, emerging as a dangerous terrorist organisation and rightly described by US President Barack Obama as a cancer – and experiencing ongoing internal government instability or even insurrection.

Iraq is slowly moving towards having a more stable and inclusive government. After the fall of Saddam and until recently, some parts of Iraq were, essentially, ungovernable and this meant IS had a relatively free rein to take territory and, in particular, challenge the Kurds (rightly being armed by ourselves and others).

The lack of any resemblance to the rule of law was a direct result of the 2003 Blair/Bush invasion and subsequent disastrous decision to ‘decapitate’ virtually every aspect of the Saddam regime.

IS does have a military infrastructure in Iraq and there are concerns about the capacity of the Iraqi military to ultimately defeat it.

If these jihadists are not confronted, political chaos will spread, engulfing other regimes with the potential to cause a conflict of a calamitous scale.

In Syria it is even more complicated.

The Assad regime is still in place and still brutal in the extreme but is now being challenged from two directions: the moderate Syrians – essentially made up of parts of opposition groups to Assad as identified last year – and the IS jihadists (many based in Iraq).

This means action of any sort in Syria must be forensic and politically adept. It is also important to note President Putin’s continued support of the Assad regime.

An international coalition to respond to this crisis is forming and has secured the support of up to ten Arab states. Air power will be part of the solution, but the UK’s part in this is still to be decided and approved by Parliament. Diplomatic efforts and appropriate aid will also feature strongly in the weeks and possibly months ahead. Doing nothing is not an option.