Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers on Thursday it was time to join air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, saying Britain can not “subcontract its security to other countries”.
Advertisement
Mr Cameron said there would be no vote on airstrikes in Syria in the House of Commons unless he was assured there was a clear majority in favour.
“I firmly support the decisive action taken by President Hollande to strike ISIL (IS) in Syria, it is my firm belief that we should do so too”, Mr. Cameron said in a statement at a news conference.
Cameron said if Britain didn’t act after IS-claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, friendly nations might well ask, “if not now, when?”
The Royal Air Force is part of a U.S.-led coalition attacking the armed groups in Iraq, but not in Syria.
Mr Cameron has had to grapple with domestic opposition to military involvement in the Syrian civil conflict since war started in that Middle Eastern country four years ago.
Cameron said then that he would seek parliamentary approval to begin British airstrikes in Syria, a proposal that has been rejected by lawmakers in the past.
The Prime Minister will not hold a Commons vote until he is sure of victory after he lost a motion in 2013.
Hollande said France planned to intensify its air strikes on Islamic State in Syria, adding that it would focus on destroying targets that would cause as much damage as possible. We are not. I can’t stand here either and say we will remove the threat through the action that we take. “And stopping them means taking action in Syria, because it is Raqqa that is their headquarters”, he said.
The prime minister will urge MPs to back military action as he sets out a “comprehensive strategy” to tackle IS.
He told MPs: “the reason for acting is the very direct threat that Isil poses to country and to our way of life”, adding that “every day we fail to act is a day where Isil can grow stronger, and more plots can be undertaken”.
Mr Cameron said there were 70,000 moderate Syrian troops and Kurdish forces on the ground and he was not proposing to put British boots on the ground rather simply provide effective air support for their campaigns to take back ground.
The Scottish National Party’s Angus Robertson said his legislators would not support airstrikes without effective ground support and “a fully costed reconstruction and stability plan”.
On Friday, Cameron welcomed the unanimous adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution on defeating IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
Advertisement
He said: “One of the lessons I would say we should learn from the last century is that when your country is under threat, and when you face aggression against your country, you can not endlessly sit around and dream about a flawless world-you need to act in the world we are in”.
