On 29 April, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office interim Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Mark Field, met ambassadors from the region to discuss the continued threat posed by Daesh. The Minister said:
Daesh once controlled territory roughly the size of the UK, but thanks to the military campaign by the Global Coalition and its partners on the ground it no longer occupies land. 7.7 million people have been liberated from its rule.
But as the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said, 'we cannot be complacent. Even without territory, Daesh and its poisonous ideology will continue to pose a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, as well as to the wider world.'
As the fight moves into this next phase, we will remain steadfast in our commitment to tackling the poisonous ideology of Daesh. I'm proud of the United Kingdom's contribution to this fight, not least through the work of the Counter-Daesh Communications Cell, which has created a unique model for the successful delivery of multinational counter-terrorist strategic communications campaigns.
