UK won’t put boots on ground in Iraq: UK PM

British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that the UK will not be involved in another war in Iraq.

“Britain is not going to get involved in another war in Iraq. We’re not going to be putting boots on the ground. We’re not going to be sending in the British army,” Cameron told the state-run BBC’s Breakfast program on Monday.

London would consider arming Kurdish forces “favorably,” the UK premier pointed out, adding, British ground forces would not be deployed to Iraq amid the ongoing crisis gripping the Arab country.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had already noted that the UK would consider any request for arms from Kurdish troops battling ISIL Takfiri militants in northern Iraq.

Cameron’s remarks came on the same day that British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the country is stepping up its role in Iraq beyond a humanitarian mission, which could last for months. He told The Times newspaper that six Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado jets and a spy plane were flying further into the crisis-hit country.

The British government has been under pressure for not doing enough to stop the ISIL advances in Iraq and Syria. The bishop of Leeds, Nicholas Baines, has blamed Cameron for failing to develop a “coherent” plan to tackle the spread of violent Takfiri extremism in the two Middle Eastern countries.

Iraq plunged into crisis in early June after ISIL terrorists took control of large swathes of the Arab country. Soldiers of the Iraqi army have been engaged in heavy fighting with the Takfiri militants in different fronts and have so far been able to push them back in several areas.

Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama authorized the use of airstrikes to prevent the advance of ISIL terrorists in Iraq and to protect American personnel and interests inside the country. The decision came after Washington’s inaction regarding the massacres in Iraq and Syria.