Stopping local extremists needs action in Syria as well as Iraq

THE terror raids in Sydney and Brisbane demonstrate one of the key contradictions in Australian and allied actions against Islamic State. If we are to stop IS inciting terrorism among its followers in Australia, and training Australians to come back and commit acts of terror here, IS will need to be neutralised in Syria as well as in Iraq.

But yesterday the Bill Shorten opposition gave its first hard brake on bipartisanship when it declared against Australia getting involved in any action in Syria. Tony Abbott says the government has no current plans to get involved in any action in Syria, but does not rule it out.

This has been more or less the exact formulation which has been used to foreshadow every action that Australia has taken. The ­Abbott government will be overwhelmingly inclined to support any US action in Syria and to ­respond positively to any US ­request for help.

Abbott made a mistake this week when distinguishing Syria from Iraq. Although the distinctions are abundant, Abbott nonetheless drew the contrast between Iraq, where the government has invited Australia in, and Syria “where we don’t even recognise the government”. In fact we do recognise the Syrian government. The Australian ambassador to Egypt is accredited in Syria, where we have non-resident diplomatic relations, but for obvious reasons has been physically unable to present his credentials.

Nonetheless, Syria and Iraq are obviously very different situations.

But the threat comes from ­Islamic State commanding territory, whether in Syria or Iraq, and promulgating its terrorist message internationally, establishing global networks of supporters, attracting foreign fighters, blooding them and training them and sending them home.

All this it can do from a base of big territory in Syria as much as in Iraq. And if our mission is humanitarian, then the humanitarian situation in Syria is more compelling than the situation in Iraq.

In March I interviewed Ajit Doval, who since the Indian election has become India’s National Security Adviser, and separately a figure at the top of the Indonesian counter-terrorism apparatus, whose name I could not use.

This was before Islamic State had its big gains in Iraq. But both men said even then that there was certain to be a massive acceleration in the international terror threat because of the foreign fighters attracted to Syria.

If Abbott and Shorten in due course do part ways over potential action in Syria, it is impossible to predict how the politics would break. This is not a distant prospect but could eventuate in a few weeks.

Yesterday’s raids amply justify last week’s decision to raise the terror warning level from medium to high. They will also bolster the case for requiring internet service providers and telecommunications companies to retain metadata for two years. I would wager a considerable sum that access to metadata played a role in alerting the authorities to the activities of at least some of the people who were raided yesterday.

Finally, it may be that the government is being a bit too cute about the role our special forces may play in Iraq. Training, mentoring and leadership only have any effect if the trainers, mentors and leaders go into the field with the troops they are trying to make ­effective.

The government keeps saying our forces won’t undertake “independent” military operations on the ground, but, apart from possibly rescuing downed coalition ­pilots, no one has ever suggested that they would. But for a mentor or trainer to accompany Iraqis on specific operations seems a much more likely scenario. This would not be “conducting independent military operations”.

Abbott says the Australian special forces would typically be based at unit headquarters of the Iraqi army. But military spokesmen have said these headquarters may well move “beyond the wire”.

Certainly you could expect that if the headquarters was a battalion headquarters and the battalion was going into action. It’s hard to imagine Australian special forces deployed for purposes which have no chance of combat.