The Ministry of Defence refused to comment on reports, but Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said SAS involvement is significant. „If we had no interest in further involvement, we would not waste money putting special forces there,“ Mr Kemp told The Telegraph…

The king also highlighted that British forces had helped in building up a mechanised battalion in southern Syria, headed by a local commander and made up of tribal fighters, to combat Bashar al-Assad’s army, and that his troops were ready with Britain and Kenya to go “over the border” to attack al-Shabaab in Somalia.