UK lawmakers approve launch of airstrikes on IS

Associated Press

LONDON

British lawmakers voted by a wide margin Wednesday to join the international campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, after Prime Minister David Cameron asserted that bombing the “medieval monsters” in their heartland would make Britain safer.

The 397-223 vote in the House of Commons means Royal Air Force fighter jets – already operating against IS in Iraq from a base in Cyprus – could be flying over Syria within hours. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Channel 4 news that the strikes would begin “very quickly ... probably not tonight but it could be tomorrow night.”

Anti-war protesters outside Parliament booed as they learned the result of the vote. The decision came after an emotional 101/2-hour debate in which Cameron said that Britain must strike the militants in their heartland and not “sit back and wait for them to attack us.”

Opponents argued that Britain’s entry into Syria’s crowded airspace would make little difference, and said Cameron’s military plan was based on wishful thinking that overlooked the messy reality of the Syrian civil war.

Cameron has long wanted to target IS in Syria, but had been unsure of getting majority support in the House of Commons until now. He suffered an embarrassing defeat in 2013 when lawmakers rejected a motion backing attacks on the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The mood changed after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, claimed by IS, that killed 130 people. Both France and the U.S. have urged Britain to join their air campaign in Syria, and Cameron said Britain should not let its allies down.

He said Britain already was a top target for IS attacks, and airstrikes would reduce the group’s ability to plan more Paris-style carnage.

“Do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands, from where they are plotting to kill British people?” he said. “Or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?”