Downing Street acknowledges it will be difficult to coordinate ‘moderate’ forces prepared to join UK and allies in attacking Isis

Downing Street has admitted that the 70,000 “moderate” fighters in Syria prepared to join the UK and its allies in attacking Islamic State are made up of a number of “disparate” groups.

As David Cameron insisted that airstrikes against Isis targets would help moves towards a political settlement in Syria by attacking “everyone’s enemy”, No 10 acknowledged it would be difficult to coordinate the forces.

“The PM is very clear that this figure was made up of a number of disparate groups,” Cameron’s spokesman said of the 70,000.

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Downing Street clarified the position after the Times (paywall) and the Sun reported that military officials had warned No 10 against claiming that the 70,000 “moderate” fighters were prepared to join the battle against Isis. The estimate was approved by the joint intelligence committee.

The two newspapers reported that officials in the Ministry of Defence were concerned that the claim would be a hostage to fortune and would revive memories of the 45 minutes claim in the Downing Street dossier in September 2002 that preceded the Iraq war. The 2002 dossier was also approved by the JIC.

Labour said the warnings from military officials confirmed that the 70,000 claim had collapsed. “The 70,000 figure has completely fallen apart,” one Labour source said. “Almost nobody believes it.”

The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, denied his department had raised concerns about the number of fighters in Syria. In a statement he said: “My department did not raise concerns with No 10 about whether the 70,000 figure should be included in the prime minister’s response.”

The original claim came when Cameron provided a written answer to the Commons foreign affairs committee on Thursday last week. “Although the situation on the ground is complex, our assessment is that there are about 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters on the ground who do not belong to extremist groups,” he said.

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In a statement that followed, Cameron elaborated by saying: “We believe that there are around 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters, principally of the Free Syrian Army, who do not belong to extremist groups, and with whom we can coordinate attacks on Isil [Isis].”

In his speech to MPs on Wednesday, ahead of the vote to approve an extension of the airstrikes against Isis from Iraq to Syria, the prime minister gave a further breakdown of the fighters. Cameron said: “The majority of the 70,000 are from the Free Syrian Army. Alongside the 70,000, there are some 20,000 Kurdish fighters with whom we can also work. I am not arguing – this is a crucial point – that all of the 70,000 are somehow ideal partners.”

The prime minister’s more cautious and detailed remarks followed angry exchanges the day before when Julian Lewis, the Tory chairman of the commons defence secretary, confronted the deputy chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Gordon Messenger, over whether any of the fighters were members of Islamist groups. Messenger cited national security concerns for refusing to answer whether any of the 70,000 fighters were members of the Islamic Front and Ahrar al-Sham.

Cameron insisted on Friday that the airstrikes would help to create a political settlement in Syria. Speaking during a visit to Bulgaria, he said: “The strikes actually help to bring about a political settlement because the strikes take the action to Daesh [Isis], which is everyone’s enemy, and we do need to have a moderate opposition in Syria that can be part of the future government. So the political process and the action against Daesh to keep us safe at home go hand in hand.”

The row over the 70,000 fighters figure came as the German parliament threw its weight behind the European campaign against Isis, voting with a solid majority in favour of deploying military personnel to Syria in a non-combat role. In a heated debate that preceded the vote, members of the Left party argued that the mission was lacking in concept and was taking place too hastily after the terror attacks on Paris three weeks ago.

The majority of the 445 MPs who voted in favour came from Angela Merkel’s grand coalition of conservatives and social democrats. The cabinet approved the deployment on Tuesday. German forces will not cooperate with troops under the command of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and their role will be strictly non-combative.