Democratic Unionists and the Liberal Democrats are also backing air strikes, their eight MPs each outweighing the voices of around a dozen Conservatives preparing to defy the party line to oppose action.
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Four Tornado jets took off from RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, shortly after the vote late Wednesday night.
“We don’t know how the United Kingdom government plans to secure peace in Syria and what ground forces there will be”. The rhetoric was heated inside parliament as well, with Cameron calling for wiping out the “women-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval monsters” of ISIS. “We simply can not afford to wait”.
Britain already conducts airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq, and in August launched a drone strike that killed two British IS militants in Syria.
But the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was said to be “disappointed” at the defeat.
“Our party has always stood up against the denial of human rights and for justice and my view, Mr Speaker, is that we must now confront this evil”, he said.
The government is now set to deploy more jets and argues that the Royal Air Force’s Brimstone missiles will be particularly valuable for precision strikes to avoid civilian casualties.
Three former Labour ministers – Alan Johnson, Dame Margaret Beckett and Yvette Cooper – were among MPs making early speeches in favour of extending military action.
“It appears that the 70,000 fighters referred to by the Government comprises the Free Syrian Army and a large number of disparate, localised groups”.
“Let’s be clear – inaction does not amount to a strategy for our security or for the Syrian people, but inaction is a choice”, said Mr Cameron.
The German Cabinet has approved plans to commit up to 1,200 soldiers to support the anti-IS coalition in Syria, though not in a combat role. He didn’t say whether the USA might be willing to bring Russian Federation into its military effort against the group, as some members such as France have proposed.
But on a day meant to convey national unity, Cameron struggled to even get through his opening remarks, as outraged opposition Labour Party lawmakers demanded he retract remarks reportedly made at a closed-door meeting in which he branded opponents a “bunch of terrorist sympathizers”.
Cameron did not retract the comments but said “there’s honor in voting for, there’s honor in voting against” the motion to back airstrikes.
Opposing intervention was not pacifism but “hard-headed common sense”, he said.
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“Britain is safer tonight because of the decision the House of Commons has taken”.
