Blair Not 'Best Placed' to Give Iraq Advice, Says France's Fabius

France's foreign minister hit out Monday at Tony Blair's statement that sending ground troops to fight the Islamic State group should not be ruled out, saying he was not "best placed" to comment.

The former British prime minister, who sent troops to invade Iraq in 2003, wrote in an essay on the website of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation that Western powers should not rule out ground engagement "in the future if it is absolutely necessary".

Asked about Blair's statement, Laurent Fabius said France -- which has launched air strikes in Iraq as part of a U.S.-led coalition to fight IS jihadists controlling large areas of the country -- would not be sending ground troops.

"And where Iraq is concerned, I'm not sure that Mr Blair is the best placed to give out advice," he told BFMTV from New York, where he will be taking part in the annual U.N. General Assembly.

Experts say the 2003 Anglo-American invasion of Iraq that toppled the regime of dictator Saddam Hussein played a part in turning some of the country into a training ground for jihadist groups including Al-Qaida in Iraq, from which IS was eventually born.

Fabius said the aerial operation over Iraq would be "a long-term affair".

"If France, like many other countries, has taken a firm stance, it's because we are defending ourselves."

Earlier in the day, Blair said that sending ground troops to fight the Islamic State (IS) group should not be ruled out.

Blair, who sent British forces to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he knew "as well as anyone" the difficulties of any such move but insisted it should not be discounted.

IS jihadists control large areas of Iraq and Syria and calls for tougher action against them have grown after the beheading of two U.S. journalists and a British aid worker in Syria, captured on graphic videos.

The U.S. has been carrying out air strikes in Iraq since last month against IS, with France joining the aerial attacks from Friday.

"I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West," Blair wrote in an essay on the website of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

"But we should not rule it out in the future if it is absolutely necessary. Provided that there is the consent of the population directly threatened and with the broadest achievable alliance, we have, on occasion, to play our part."

He added that air power alone "will not suffice" in the fight against the IS group.

"They can be hemmed in, harried and to a degree contained by air power. But they can't be defeated by it," Blair added.

"You cannot uproot this extremism unless you go to where it originates and fight it."

Blair sees the conflict in Iraq and Syria as part of a wider global problem with radical Islam which also spans unrest in Pakistan, Nigeria, Mali and China's Xinjiang province.

"This is not a clash of civilizations. It is a struggle between those who believe in peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and none and extremists who would use religion wrongly as a source of violence and conflict," he wrote.