Aust training Philippines to defeat ISIS

Australian special forces soldiers who fought in urban combat in Iraq are training Filipino soldiers to defeat local ISIS insurgents.

The lessons Australia learned fighting in Mosul, one of the most fierce urban battles in the Middle East, are now being applied in Marawi City.

Militants associated with ISIS took over Marawi from May to October in 2017.

"We learned a number of lessons on the integration of close air support and land forces within Mosul," Lieutenant-Colonel Judd Finger told reporters in Canberra on Friday.

"We're passing on some of those lessons to our Philippines partners."

Lieutenant-Colonel Finger said Australia is training the Philippines army, navy and air force in various urban fighting techniques, including how to use planes and helicopters in city-based battles.

"Close air support is an exceptionally complex tactical problem within the urban operations," Lieutenant-Colonel Finger said.

Reducing collateral damage - the death or injury of non-combatants - while trying to be accurate with weapons was a particular problem, he said.

Australia does not engage with ISIS or Abu Sayyaf militants directly in the Philippines, but is training local soldiers, sailors and pilots on how to deal with them.

Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defence Force, said it was important to stop ISIS, also known as Daesh, from gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia.

"Australia has worked with the government of the Philippines to strengthen its long term ability to combat terrorist threats, and to prevent the spread of Daesh in our region," he told reporters.

"Building the capacity of the armed forces of the Philippines is critical to ensuring Daesh and other violent extremist groups can not again seize and hold territory."