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Cameron to set out case for air strikes on IS in Syria

But an email penned by Mr Corbyn said he will be opposing further military action because the Prime Minister had not made a “convincing case”.

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Corbyn has said he would not approve a free vote on the issue, and he wants Labour MPs to obey a whip and vote against their consciences – against bombing.

At Prime Minister’s Questions he said there was a “clear and present danger” from the group, which is also known as Isis, Isil or Daesh.

“Let’s let the dust settle”.

He warned MPs that Britain should “act now” because “every day we don’t take action is a day ISIL grows stronger”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed the intervention against IS in Iraq previous year, stopped short of saying he would order his MPs to vote against air strikes in Syria. Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said military action could have “unintended consequences” – as it did in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

But he added: “The question must now be whether extending the United Kingdom bombing from Iraq to Syria is likely to reduce, or increase, that threat and whether it will counter, or spread, the terror campaign Isis is waging in the Middle East”.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Hillary Benn had earlier told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg he found the case for strikes “compelling”.

The email, which was sent out by a member of staff working for Graeme Morris, the Labour MP and a whip, was allegedly drafted with the knowledge of the Labour leader’s office. “We have never been reluctant to use force when it has been deemed necessary”.

Cameron released a document on Thursday, setting out his plan for British air strikes in Syria.

“They have already taken the lives of British hostages and inspired the worst terrorist attack against British people since 7/7 on the beaches of Tunisia”.

He said in the 24-page response that the campaign against Islamic State was entering a new phase, focussing on command and control, supply lines and financial support – something that suited Britain’s capabilities.

Losing a vote would be “catastrophic personally” for Cameron and would hand Isis “a huge propaganda coup”, added Professor Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics.

“We can, and we must, do so again”.

In his statement to the Commons, Cameron said it was wrong to “shirk our responsibility” and leave the US, France, and other allies to fight the terrorists in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.

Downing Street said that the figure had been provided by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) – the UK’s senior intelligence body.

Cameron lost a vote on air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in 2013 and must persuade some wary members of his own Conservative Party and in the opposition Labour Party to back him if he is to win parliament’s support for military action.

“We do not have the luxury of being able to wait until the Syrian conflict is resolved before tackling ISIL (Islamic State)”, Cameron wrote in a response to the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which had said a policy to extend air strikes was “incoherent” without a strategy to defeat the jihadists.

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The PM wants to bomb IS targets in Syria while other countries provide the ground troops, ahead of a long-term political solution.

David Cameron Has Published His Case For Bombing Isis In Syria, 'Our Closest