RAAF fighters will take part in air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Australian Special Forces troops will be deployed as military advisors to assist local forces in the fight on the ground, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced. 

“Today, cabinet has authorized Australian air strikes in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi Government and in support of the Iraqi government,” Abbott said in a nationally televised address.  “Also, subject to final legal documentation, cabinet has authorized the deployment of Australian special forces into Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi forces.”

There is an Australian contingent in the United Arab Emirates, made up of eight Super Hornet fighter jets, an early warning and control aircraft, an aerial refueling aircraft, along with 400 air force personnel and 200 special force soldiers.  The troops would not directly take part in combat missions.

Abbott has called Islamic State a “death cult” that is a threat to Australia and the world.  The terrorists control a large swath of territory on either side of the border between Iraq and Syria which it has declared to be a “caliphate”.  The UN on Thursday accused the militant Islamists of committing a “staggering array” of human rights abuses, many of them videoed and uploaded to the Internet.