Speaking today Mr Ellwood said:

A year ago, the UK’s brave Armed Forces and aid workers played a crucial role in getting vital supplies to innocent civilians suffering at the hands of ISIL. The Yazidi community were exposed, starving and dying of thirst when they were forced up Mount Sinjar after fleeing from their homes. The UK Government conducted seven airdrops of life-saving humanitarian aid.

We will continue to protect all those persecuted by these brutal terrorists as part of a 63 nation coalition designed to defeat ISIL’s poisonous ideology.

We acknowledge that we need to do more in the fight against violent Islamist extremism. Be in no doubt, we are committed to destroying the terrorist scourge of ISIL that threatens the lives of people from all communities in both Iraq and Syria. Defeating ISIL will take time and patience but it is a fight we must win.

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