Almost two thirds of the public would support some form of British military action against jihadist fighters in Iraq, an exclusive poll for The Telegraph suggested Sunday.
The survey, by Opinion Research, found 60 per cent of people were in favour of taking action to deal with the threat from the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The measures that people were prepared to support ranged from a hostage rescue mission by the SAS, to deploying soldiers on the ground inside both Iraq and Syria. Only 20 per cent would not support military action of any kind.
The survey also found that the public overwhelmingly approved of plans for tougher laws to deal with terrorism suspects in the UK and measures to prevent hundreds of British jihadists from returning home.
The poll was conducted to gauge opinion in the days after another Isil video emerged, believed to show a British attacker known as “Jihadi John” beheading the American journalist Steven Sotloff.