A SECOND contingent of Australian Defence Force personnel has left for the Philippines to train the South-East Asian country’s armed forces in their ongoing fight against Islamic State.
The Bulletin can reveal that a second rotation of troops left Townsville in the past fortnight as part of Operation Augury.
While the Federal Government has refused to confirm ongoing details of the operation, the Bulletin understands a large contingent flew out on Saturday, following the movements of a lead group the week prior.
Last Friday, a majority of the first rotation, which left in October, returned home in time for Christmas.
Those soldiers, predominantly from Townsville’s 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, were among at least 80 Australian Defence Force troops making up mobile training teams to counter ISIS tactics to recruit from the region’s large Islamic community to push them towards extremism against the West.
Philippine Army soldier Sergeant Sonny Casuga practices urban combat techniques with Australian Army soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, at Capinpin, Philippines, as part of Operation Augury.
It is understood the second rotation is made up of similar numbers from 1RAR and other support units.
In July, 1RAR was certified as the ADF’s Ready Battle Group: the army’s largest, highest-readiness contingency force for short-notice deployments.
The Department of Defence said it would not “discuss ongoing operational matters including the deployment of personnel”.
But Defence Minister Marise Payne told the Bulletin that the threat of terrorism couldn’t be defeated by any individual nation, which is why Australia was committed to supporting the Government of the Philippines to counter the threat of Daesh.
“The Australian Defence Force’s training teams supporting the Armed Forces of the Philippines are making a significant difference,” she said.
“During the fighting to liberate Marawai, the Philippines Armed Forces proved themselves to be a courageous and extremely resilient and capable fighting force, especially considering their training and experience has historically centred on jungle warfare rather than fighting in urban environments.
“Through our operations in the Middle East over many years, we have extensive knowledge and skills in urban warfare which we are able to share with the Philippines, at their specific request.”
Ms Payne said Australia’s land-based work was supporting the Philippines to build their long-term capability to defeat the brutal tactics employed by Daesh-inspired terrorists.
At the same time, the Royal Australian Navy and the Philippines Navy have conducted joint maritime security patrols to share experiences in maintaining maritime borders and to prevent the unchallenged movement of terrorists and supporters between islands.
Ms Payne said that exchange of maritime experiences would continue in 2018.
“We are also contributing to post-conflict rehabilitation work by sharing experiences from other regional stabilisation missions that Australia has contributed to,” she said.
“We have seen the effect of extremist ideology and terrorist threats on millions of civilians and it is alarming to see this disruption come to our region.”
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/more-townsville-soldiers-deploy-to-philippines-in-ongoing-fight-against-islamic-state/news-story/950327c82dea2ed54d66245e8c85d8f3
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