Britain’s military involvement in Syria to aid militants fighting against the government of Bashar al-Assad will have unintended adverse results for London, says a British political commentator.
“It has become obvious that the UK is continuing its policy of helping Daesh or ISIL,” said Dr. Rodney Shakespeare, a British professor of binary economics in London.
“We know that the groups that the UK is aiding, particularly with special forces, are those part of the forces opposed to Russia, Iran and the Syrian government,” Shakespeare told Press TV on Tuesday.
“We in the UK are shocked that the purpose of British policy is still the Zionist policy of smashing apart Syria with the intention ultimately of leaving a waste land in Syria,” he added.
“At some point there will be a blowback on this policy, exactly the same way that Turkey has found that the policy of aiding Daesh or ISIL has blown back.”
British special forces have been pictured on the front line in Syria, the first photographic evidence of UK troops operating in the war-ravaged country.
The images, obtained by the BBC, appear to show British special forces on the ground in Syria riding open-air Thalab patrol vehicles which are designed for harsh terrain.
Small numbers of UK troops have been operating in Syria in an array of capacities including surveillance, advisory and combat.
The BBC reported that the images, taken in June, show British troops defending a militant base on the Syria-Iraq border which was under attack by Daesh terrorists.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy it blames on some regional and Western governments.
According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people since March 2011.
The UK Department for International Development (DFID), a British government institution responsible for administering foreign spending, estimates that about £5.1 million of British aid for Syria may have ended up in the hands of Daesh.
British authorities also say that at least 800 UK nationals have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the terror groups operating in those countries.