Duterte offers to send battalions of troops to help Jordan fight Islamic State

Jordan
President Duterte gets to grips with some military hardware. File photograph.

President Duterte has said he is willing to send battalions of troops to help Jordan in the fight against the so-called Islamic State.

Addressing a forum of businessmen in Amman yesterday (Thursday, September 6) he said: “If there is anything that we can do, if you are short of your army, let me know. You need one battalion? Two, three, four, five? I’ll send them to you.”

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The president is currently in the Middle Eastern country on an official visit, which also saw him spend three days in Israel.

The president also said he would commit his government to “the right side of history” by being “fair” and having an understanding of the “problems of humanity”.

“And that you’ll realise that you need us as much as I need you in order to work this place called Earth, beautiful and working for all of us,” he added.

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Jordan has used airstrikes and other means to fend off Islamic State fighters who have come close to its borders with Syria.

The kingdom has also carried out several airstrikes in response to the death of Jordanian fighter pilot Muath al- Kasasbeh, who was burned to death by islamist militants in Syria in 2015.

The president had some stern words to say about Islamic State in his speech, saying they have “a history so corrupt that the ideology is only one, to kill and destroy”.

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Last year, government troops and Islamic State-affiliated militants engaged in a five-month seige that killed more than a thousand people and left the once bustling city of Marawi in ruins.

The president also imposed martial law across the entire island of Mindanao on the grounds that extremist groups wanted to establish a new Islamic State stronghold in the southern Philippines.

The martial law in Mindanao will remain in place until the end of this year, unless it is extended. 

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