West ‘must share blame for IS’

Western Governments are partly to blame for the horrors being carried out by Islamic State (IS) terrorists, a Syrian priest based in London has claimed.

The Revd Nadim Nassar, the only Syrian-born Church of England vicar, said that Nato could order Turkey, one of its own members, to stop letting jihadists enter and leave Syria via its borders. But it has not done so, and effectively shares responsibility for the hold the jihadists have managed to gain there, he said. It is widely accepted that wealthy individuals in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have provided funding and weapons for IS.

Mr Nassar, an adviser to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Freedom, said concerns about Britain’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia had been raised at a House of Commons meeting of MPs and experts.

A Nato official told The Tablet that Nato could not order its allies to change their individual foreign policies. He noted that Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg had welcomed the Turkish parliament’s October vote to carry out cross-border military operations against IS, and to allow foreign soldiers to use Turkey’s military bases.