The murder of hostages such as Alan Henning is 'part of the harsh price' to be paid in confronting Islamic State (Isis), the former head of the British army has said.
Lord Dannatt, who stepped down in 2009, made the comments after a video of the British aid worker being beheaded was released by the jihadist movement on Friday night, three weeks after warning that he would be the next to die.
'Our government is now standing up to its responsibilities, and part of the harsh price, while this takes time, is that sadly if they have hostages in their hands, these atrocious things seem to be happening and seem to be going to continue to happen,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday.
Downing Street said David Cameron was meeting officials from the intelligence agencies, the military and the Foreign Office at Chequers on Saturday to discuss the killing.
Henning is the fourth western hostage to have been killed by Isis, following the filmed beheadings of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and Scottish aid worker David Haines.
A further hostage, Hervé Gourdel, from Nice in France, was murdered by Jund al-Khalifa, a group with links to Isis, on 24 September.
Dannat renewed his call for Britain to extend military operations to Syria, where the US and other allies were conducting air strikes. He said the UK was not doing enough: 'Dealing with half a problem is not going to solve the problem. If the Americans have found a way to be able to do this then actually we should be doing it.'
Henning's murder came after the UK launched air strikes against Isis, joining the US and its Arab allies - Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - which had been targeting the group for several days.
Shortly before the Ministry of Defence announced that the RAF had attacked two Isis targets, the Foreign Office arranged for Henning's wife, Barbara, to make a televised appeal for his release.
Intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are studying the video of his killing, which was released on the eve of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
On Friday night, the Foreign Office said: 'We are aware of the video and are working urgently to verify the contents. If true, this is a further disgusting murder. We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time.'
The prime minister said the murder demonstrated how 'barbaric and repulsive' the extremist group was.
'Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need,' Cameron said. 'The fact that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these Isil terrorists,' Cameron said. 'We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice.'
The American ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun, said on Saturday: 'Today, we stand with the UK in joint determination, resolve and commitment to achieve justice for Alan Henning.'
Majid Freeman, a Leicester aid volunteer who worked with the Briton in Syria, said Henning appeared to have been abandoned by the government.
He feared that Britain's decision to join US-led air strikes may have sealed Henning's fate: 'Turkey managed to release 49 hostages without paying a single penny. All the British government had to do was release one hostage.'
The time between the initial threat to kill Henning and his murder - longer than in previous cases - suggested that Isis had at least been open to sparing him, Freeman told the Today programme. 'However the government have done nothing at all to help his case. If anything, they voted for air strikes which may have sealed his fate.'
In the video, entitled Another Message to America and Its Allies, a masked man stands behind Henning, who is kneeling. Henning said: 'I am Alan Henning. Because of our parliament's decision to attack the Islamic State, I - as a member of the British public - will now pay the price for that decision.'
A voice then says: 'The blood of David Haines was on your hands, Cameron. Alan Henning will also be slaughtered, but his blood is on the hands of the British parliament.'
It ended with a threat to a fifth hostage, an American man named by his captors as Peter Edward Kassig.
Barack Obama condemned the latest killing and said that the US, along with its allies, would continue to take action to destroy Isis. 'Henning worked to help improve the lives of the Syrian people and his death is a great loss for them, for his family and the people of the United Kingdom,' the US president said on Friday night.
'Standing together with our UK friends and allies, we will work to bring the perpetrators of Alan's murder - as well as the murders of Jim Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines - to justice. Standing together with a broad coalition of allies and partners, we will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy Isil.'
Henning, 47, a taxi driver from Eccles, Greater Manchester, had been held captive in Syria for nine months, and is thought to have been held by Isis with up to 20 other western hostages for much of that time.
Described by friends as 'a big man with a big heart', Henning was captured by the group after joining Muslim friends on an aid convoy to Syria last Christmas.
Post By http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/alan-henning-hostage-killing-harsh-price-isis-syria
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