Bahrain has played a key role in fighting the Islamic State (IS) terror group and making its presence felt in the global struggle against extremism.

This was the message conveyed by outgoing British Ambassador Iain Lindsay at a briefing held at the embassy yesterday on worldwide efforts to counter the IS, which is also known as ISIL and Da’esh, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

“Bahrain has played a key role in the coalition against ISIL and by taking part in the Paris meeting it is sending a powerful message on anti-extremism to the international community,” he said, referring to the Small Group of the Global Coalition to counter Da’esh meeting held in France on Tuesday, which was attended by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

Of the 60-plus nations that joined the international coalition against IS nine months ago, 24 were represented in Paris and issued a joint declaration pledging their continued military support, training and air strikes, as well as stressing the importance of reforms and reconciliation by Iraq’s government to tackle sectarian division.

“In this region, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, has made his views clear about the need for the international community to tackle extremism and we support what he has been saying on that,” said Lindsay.

“The Crown Prince highlighted this during the Manama Dialogue last year and continued this narrative at the Camp David summit and during his recent meeting in London with Prime Minister David Cameron.

“The Crown Prince’s message on tackling extremism and ideology is absolutely important.

“Whatever may be its roots or colours whether Boko Haram, Da’esh, ISIL or Al Shabab in Somalia, these groups need to be tackled.

“The Crown Prince mentioned that we need to see this not on a sectarian basis, but as an extreme ideology that needs to be tackled holistically.”

Lindsay highlighted a message from UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on the need for the 63-nation global coalition to be united and committed in defeating IS.

“The UK has played a leading role, providing the second biggest overall contribution to air strikes against ISIL in Iraq,” he said.

“The air strikes we carried out targeting ISIL are more than we carried in either of the previous two Gulf wars.”

The diplomat said that the UK’s Royal Air Force had conducted more than 250 successful air strikes – second only to the US contribution.

“Our unmanned aerial vehicles provide 40 per cent of information on surveillance and target acquisition capability  over Iraq,” he said.

“The UK is a leader in providing counter improvised explosive device (IED) training and gifted 1,000 counter IED detectors to Iraq.”

The diplomat condemned the recent IS-linked attacks in Saudi Arabia which “reflect their brutality” and “strongly welcomed” Saudi efforts to counter them.

Lindsay said that the UK was assisting Gulf countries in Yemen, where they are countering Houthi militiamen who seek to topple the Yemeni government.

The UK government is also providing £39.5 million ($60.6 million) in humanitarian aid to support people across Iraq who have fled the violence, he said.

Bahrain is taking part in the US-led air campaign against the IS called Operation Inherent Resolve, which has led to more than 10,000 deaths among extremist-affiliated fighters, according to US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced in February that Simon Martin had been appointed as the next UK ambassador to Bahrain and will succeed Mr Lindsay in September. - TradeArabia News Service