LONDON (Reuters) – Islamic State militants are using turmoil sown by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bombing in Syria to plot attacks against the United Kingdom and her allies, Britain’s foreign intelligence chief said on Thursday.

In his first major public speech since winning the top job at the Secret Intelligence Service in 2014, MI6 chief Alex Younger said Russia and Bashar al-Assad were hindering the defeat of militants by attempting to make a “desert” out of Syria.

“As I speak, the highly organised external attack planning structures within Daesh (IS), even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without ever having to leave Syria,” Younger said at MI6’s Vauxhall Cross headquarters in central London.

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