Syria-based columnist: UK air strikes against IS useless

Middle East Eye’s Aleppo-based columnist Edward Dark has said he is against the UK bombing IS in Syria.

He wrote in an emailed message:

In general I'm against the idea as it would achieve nothing against IS. There are already about a dozen nations bombing them for over a year now to little effect. They [have] adapted, hidden between civilians and adopted tactics to move without being exposed and conspicuous. Without a ground army to back up airstrikes then they're useless and will only cause needless civilian deaths. The only thing that will have an impact on IS is taking out their oil infrastructure which the US-led coalition has been hesitant to do for some unknown reason, but which the Russians are doing very effectively now. In short, it's abad idea, political posturing at the cost of Syrian lives with no real tangible outcome.