Britain’s parliament voted on Wednesday to launch bombing raids against Islamic State in Syria, supporting Prime Minister David Cameron’s case that the country needs to help destroy militants who are “plotting to kill us”.
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More than 1,000 protesters, led by the Stop the War coalition, demonstrated outside the Parliament Wednesday, chanting and holding placards reading: “Hands off Syria”, “Don’t bomb Syria” and “Say no to more imperialist war”, among others.
And today two more Tornados and six Typhoons took off from their bases in the United Kingdom heading for RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus where the British strike force attacking IS – also referred to as Isil, Isis or Daesh – is based.
He was among 66 Labour MPs who voted with the Government while seven Conservatives opposed the plans for military action.
The targeting of oil infrastructure is part of its strategy to deprive the extremists of their funding and revenue streams.
The air strikes were carried out within hours of a vote by MPs in the Commons to back extending operations against Islamic State (IS) from neighbouring Iraq.
France’s government welcomed the first British airstrikes in Syria, saying they are a sign of the European solidarity promised after the November 13 attacks on Paris.
Just under a third of Labour members of parliament defied leftwing leader Corbyn to vote for military action.
“This is the right thing to do to keep Britain safe, to deal with this evil organization, and as part of a process to bring peace and stability to Syria”, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told CNN.
A poll conducted by online research firm YouGov showed that British citizens’ support for military action in Syria has fallen to the lowest level since September 2014, with 48 percent of respondents supporting strikes on Tuesday, compared to 59 percent last week. “Or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?”
Asked whether the UK’s involvement in military action in Syria would make Britain a target, Mr Fallon told ITV1’s Good Morning Britain: “The sad news is we are already a target…”
The UK has carried out its first air strikes on Syria less than an hour after MPs voted to support military action.
But a decision to bomb Islamic State terrorists in Syria will “almost inevitably lead to the deaths of innocents”, Jeremy Corbyn responded.
Attacking IS’s oil facilities would deprive them of financing and undermine their operations in north-east Syria, “from where these threats to western Europe, these plots, are all being hatched and devised”, he said.
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“And it is why, as we have heard tonight, socialists and trade unionists and others joined the worldwide brigade in the 1930s to fight against Franco; it’s why this entire House stood up against Hitler and Mussolini; it is why our party has always stood up against the denial of human rights and for justice”.
