By Helen Clark
Will incoming PM Malcolm Turnbull continue Tony Abbott’s gung-ho policy on Syria?
While all attention in Australia is understandably focused on the change in Canberra – the third time in five years a sitting Australian prime minister has been deposed in a party room ballot – Australia did conduct its first mission into Syria this weekend, although it dropped no bombs. The decision to bomb Syria was announced in the middle of last week, around the same time the soon-to-be former Prime Minister Tony Abbott also confirmed Australia would accept a one-off intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees, on top of the 13,000 Australia already accepts. Australian media has largely reported the two in the same story, and the government was using the humanitarian crisis to prosecute its argument for expanding bombing.
We recently reported that Australia was considering accepting a U.S. request to bomb Syria’s east and noted that many military personnel and strategists didn’t think much of the plan, in terms of its utility or effects. The mission would involve Australia’s airpower in Iraq, which is relatively small at six F/A-18F Super Hornets, a control craft and a tanker. These assets would “take a left turn” into Syria, according to Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, the head of Australia’s Defence Force, speaking to News Limited. No extra craft will be sent. Australia has already flown some 700 sorties. No more planes will be deployed.
We’ve reported on Australia’s mission to Iraq several times before. Australia has been conducting sorties, but also training and delivery of humanitarian assistance. It has deployed a total of 700 personnel, from those supporting the aerial missions in Iraq and those training Iraqi soldiers.
“This is a training mission, not a combat mission. Nevertheless, it is a mission which is necessary, because obviously in the face of the initial death cult onslaught, the Iraqi regular army melted like snow in summer. That’s been a disaster for the people of Iraq, millions of whom now live in a new dark age,” Abbott said earlier this year. He even made a surprise visit there in January. Abbott was always very keen on the fight against ISIS, something critics in Australia have noted.
Read the full story at The Diplomat