Four RAF Tornado jets, which carry a range of munitions including Paveway IV guided bombs and precision-guided Brimstone missiles, took off from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus but defence officials refused to be drawn on the targets of their mission.
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Cameron won overwhelming support for his proposal, two years after his previous effort failed to win parliamentary backing for strikes in Syria, a key contributing factor to the decision by Western forces not to launch strikes against Syria’s government in response to its use of chemical weapons.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said air strikes would “almost inevitably lead to the deaths of innocents” and accused the PM of rushing a Commons vote through before public opinion turns against military action.
The controversial Government plans were approved by 397 votes to 223 – a majority of 174.
Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn was lauded by MPs from across the House for making a powerful speech warning his party that “we never have and we never should walk by on the other side of the road”.
“The question is this: 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, or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?”
The British parliamentarians in favor of airstrikes seemed to agree with Cameron, with Labour MP Dan Jarvis saying that “it is my judgment that the action is the right thing for our country and for my constituents”.
“This is not about whether we want to fight terrorism, it’s about how best we do that”, he said.
Mr Baron, speaking to the amendment in his name against extending action into the country, warned MPs that “without a comprehensive strategy, air strikes will simply reinforce the West’s long-term failure in the region”.
He told the Commons: “To my mind, Isil is such a clear and present danger to the civilised world that if all necessary means are endorsed by the security council then so should this House”.
“But I say the threat is now and there are rarely, if ever, flawless circumstances in which to deploy military forces”.
The final vote took place just before 10.30pm this evening, following a 11-hour debate in the House of Commons.
Lewis compared Cameron’s assertion that there are as many as 70,000 moderate opposition fighters in Syria with the “dodgy dossier” on Iraq’s military capabilities.
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“And we are here faced by fascists”, he said.
