Mr Corbyn refused to bow to demands for a free vote on Sunday, instead merely delivering an impassioned critique of David Cameron’s case for attacking IS in its heartlands.
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The Lothians MSP’s stance will not make a direct difference to a Syria vote in the Commons, but as a prominent Labour figure it represents a boost to Mr Corbyn’s attempts to galvanise his party against intervention.
She told the BBC: “Frankly, I think the threat of mass resignations has been exaggerated but we will have to see”.
Fallon said opinion “was beginning to shift” over the action.
Most Labour lawmakers did not support Corbyn’s bid for the leadership but he was backed by an overwhelming majority of grassroots party members.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who said failing to involve the RAF in the bombing campaign would damage the UK’s reputation and endanger British lives, hopes a Syria vote will be held this week.
“If those Westminster bubble-dwellers who hanker back to the politics of the past can not show the elected leader – and those who voted for him – more respect, then they are writing their own political obituaries”.
Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair’s decision to join the US-led Iraq war in 2003, in which 179 British service personnel were killed, remains contentious in Britain after questions were raised over the intelligence case for action.
The Labour leader will also press Cameron to delay the vote until Labour’s concerns about the justification for the bombing are addressed, as part of a deal he has thrashed out with the deputy leader, Tom Watson, and other senior members of the shadow cabinet over the weekend.
Shadow worldwide development secretary Ms Abbott said: “I think it’s quite an evenly balanced argument”.
As one shadow cabinet minister put it last night: “If you have spent your entire life opposing war, is this not your opportunity to finally achieve something by whipping MPs to stop military action?”
Asked if he personally was ready to resign, Lord Falconer said: “I don’t want to comment on that”.
Mr Corbyn yesterday told the Andrew Marr show that he would ultimately choose the party’s position because he was the leader.
While Spain has no immediate plans to get involved, pacifist protesters in Madrid also rallied on Saturday, determined to have their say, with less than a month to go before the country’s general election.
The majority of the shadow cabinet are believed to be in favour of supporting the prime minister’s wish to expand airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria.
Labour’s shadow Cabinet – the party’s main decision-making body – met Thursday to try and agree on a party position, but was unsuccessful.
However, one senior Labour source, who is not in Corbyn’s camp, said Labour MPs seemed to have become more wary of backing military action over the weekend for fear of “marking their card” and getting singled out as targets for possible deselection by activists.
It is understood that leader Jeremy Corbyn will make it clear that the party’s official policy is to oppose the military action, but will not impose a whip directing them to vote against.
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Newport West MP Paul Flynn said there were “terrible divisions” in the party, and a “gulf” between the leader and his shadow cabinet.
