Labour leadership frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn has questioned the point of the military action that killed Islamic State (IS) terrorist Reyaad Khan in Syria.
The left-winger said he would not have authorised the drone attack that killed the British jihadi and insisted David Cameron "has some very difficult questions to answer about the legality of what he did".
Khan was killed in an unprecedented targeted air strike that also killed Briton Ruhul Amin on August 21 in the IS stronghold of Raqqah.
The Prime Minister said the attack was justified on the grounds of "self-defence" because Khan was involved in orchestrating a number of plots to attack "high-profile public commemorations" over the summer.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has insisted the Government would not hesitate to take similar action against others on a reported "hit list" Is extremists.
But Mr Corbyn, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, questioned the legal basis for the use of drones when details of the operation emerged and has now suggested there was no point in targeting the jihadi.
He told ITV News: "I'm unclear as to the point of killing the individual by this drone attack."
The potential election of Mr Corbyn as Opposition leader could make it harder for the Government to obtain parliamentary approval for military action in Syria - though ministers have hinted they could still attract sufficient Labour support.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel