Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Wednesday that Poland’s Defense Ministry is determining how Poland might help the coalition after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appealed for support during a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.
Advertisement
But the leader of the opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn insisted those arguments simply didn’t stack up.
He said the majority were members of the Free Syrian Army and that there were a further 20,000 Kurdish fighters with whom Britain could also work.
“We are here faced by fascists”, Mr Benn said, reminding his party that socialists had fought against Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in the 1930s.
The well-financed terrorist organization, which orchestrated a sophisticated attack on Paris last month, seeks to strike the West “because of who we are”, Cameron said, “not because of what we do”.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was now “confident” that most MPs would support air strikes when there was a vote.
But after ten and half hours of passionate debate, 397 MPs voted for an offensive that will see Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth join Tornado bombers already stationed in the Middle East. They were opposed by 223 MPs.
“It’s impossible, Mr Speaker, I think, to avoid the conclusion that the prime minister understands that public opinion is moving increasingly against what I believe to be an ill-thought out rush to war and he wants to hold this vote before the opinion grows against it”.
At least two British Warplanes have reportedly taken off from Cyprus to strike the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria, shortly after the British MPs voted in support of the striking plan.
Seeking to head off complaints about his attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Cameron told MPs: “The question before the House today is how we keep the British people safe from the threat posed by Isil”.
The motion is set to be voted on Wednesday. Last week I visited the region as part of my role with the Foreign Affairs Committee, and saw for myself that our allies are more committed than ever to find a diplomatic and political solution in Syria.
United Kingdom MPs have voted in favour of air strikes against Islamic State miltiants in Syria.
Mr Cameron said he could “not have been clearer” in his opening remarks.
“We are now carrying out air strikes in Iraq against them, at the request of the Iraqi government”.
Campaigners have vowed to demonstrate outside Westminster if parliament votes in favor of the airstrikes.
Sheffield MP Angela Smith said Labour MPs were moved to tears by the extraordinary speech, which she described as “moving” and “immensely powerful”.
Advertisement
A motion approved by Cabinet ministers proposes “military action, specifically airstrikes, exclusively against ISIL in Syria”, using another acronym for the group.
