UK special forces, secret operations in 19 countries within 12 years
A new report has shed light on the covert military operations of the British army around the world. The report by the Guardian says Britain's Special Forces have carried out secret operations in 19 countries over the past 12 years.
Countries where British forces have been involved include Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and most recently, Sudan.
Out of the 19 countries where UK Special Forces operated secretly 11 are Muslim nations.
The elite military units operate in secret without ministers publicly confirming their activities, however, a research group, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), has compiled a list of their activities since the year 2011, based on media leaks.
According to the report members of the Special Air Services, SAS, the Special Boat Service (SBS), and, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) have been repeatedly deployed by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence to conduct high risk missions, typically where the UK is not at war.
Special Forces were particularly active in Syria. They reportedly entered the country in 2012 to help anti Damascus groups fight against President Bashar Al Assad.
As per the report, they were also sent to Syria in 2013 to identify military targets in advance of a bombing campaign which was to be conducted by the UK. The proposed bombing campaign was voted down by parliament.
Senior defense sources have told News night that Britain did, in fact, have a secret plan for intervening in Syria.
It was the brainchild of General David Richards, Britain's most senior officer, who told Downing Street there are only two ways of ending the bloodshed quickly.
The first was to let Assad win; the second was to defeat him. To defeat him, he recommended training and equipping a substantial army of Syrian rebels.
Nick Hopkins, Investigations Correspondent, BBC Newsnight
In Ukraine, The Pentagon documents leaked earlier this year showed that 50 members of UK Special Forces were in the former Soviet republic alongside Kyiv forces fighting against Russia. By contrast, the numbers from the US and France were listed as 14 and 15 respectively.
United Kingdom has unlocked a number of packages in the last year. We're going further, beginning of this week I announced to Parliament that we will send a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
We will send at least three batteries of AS-90 155 Long Range deep fire artillery; we will send a number of armored vehicles, including the Bulldog, which is a variant of the old 432 armored personnel carrier; thousands of rounds of ammunition, and today I can say we're also going to send another 600 Brimstone missiles into theater which will be incredibly important in helping Ukraine dominate the battlefield.
Ben Wallace, UK Defense Secretary
The report asserts that deployments depict the lack of insight by Parliament. While MPs have to vote for a war, Special Forces can be deployed without Commons approval and their actions are not subject to investigation by any parliamentary oversight committee.
Major military acts of war conducted by UK Special Forces must be approved by the British Parliament; however, small scale Special Forces operations can be carried out without parliamentary approval and are not subject to committee investigations.
The revelation comes on the heel of earlier reports that special British forces killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan.
In March this year a public inquiry began into allegations that the SAS were responsible for 54 summary executions in Afghanistan in 2010, and 2011.
During night time raids, men were separated from their families and reportedly shot dead after having, allegedly, produced weapons.
Quite frankly now the infantry regiments are doing exactly what they're paid for, certainly since the invasion of Iraq, and obviously the operations now in Afghanistan.
So therefore, a lot of soldiers are looking at their prospects of going to the Special Air Service for action to get involved in operations and I say: ‘you know what? I'm doing it already’.
Andy McNab, Former SAS Soldier
Senior military officers have been accused of burying evidence that British troops were executing detainees in Afghanistan.
Apart from Afghanistan, Britain followed Washington's lead against Iraq in the 2003 War; an act of aggression, which killed thousands of innocent Iraqis.
Meanwhile, UK policy has made it mandatory for the military to increase secret operations in other countries so as to ‘protect Britain's interests’ across the globe.
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