Britain’s parliament yesterday looked set to vote in favor of joining the bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, paving the way for sorties by its warplanes to start within days.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who stepped up pressure for air strikes after last month’s Paris attacks, is to lead the British House of Commons into more than 10 hours of debate on joining the US-led international military action.
Ministers are confident that lawmakers will then vote “Yes,” meaning the first British Royal Air Force warplanes could be bombing targets in Syria by the end of the week.
Photo: Reuters
Cameron says military action is needed to prevent attacks like the ones that killed 130 people in Paris last month, while insisting it would be accompanied by a diplomatic push to resolve the crisis in Syria.
“I will be making the arguments and I hope as many members of parliament across all parties will support me as possible,” he said on the eve of the vote.
However, many experts, lawmakers and members of the public remain skeptical, and several thousand antiwar protesters marched in central London on Saturday last week and on Tuesday.
Military experts question how much difference Britain will make to the coalition against Islamic State militants in Syria, adding the move might be more about Britain wanting to be seen to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with allies like France and the US.
“It will not make a big operational difference,” military think tank Royal United Services Institute professor Malcolm Chalmers told reporters. “It is important symbolically, useful operationally, but not transformative.”
Cameron “emotionally feels very strongly that he should support France in its time of need,” added Ben Barry of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
Britain already has eight Tornado fighter jets, plus an unknown number of drones, involved in strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq, an operation it joined last year.
However, it currently only conducts surveillance and intelligence missions over Syria.
In a rare move, weekly Prime Minister’s Questions have been canceled and the parliamentary diary cleared for an all-day debate on the Syria strikes, with a vote expected at about 10pm or even later.
The motion up for debate stresses that Britain will not deploy ground combat troops, while noting that allies, including France and the US, have requested British assistance.
Cameron announced the vote on Monday after the main opposition Labour Party let its lawmakers have a free vote rather than trying to force them to oppose air strikes in line with the views of its left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour’s decision means dozens of its lawmakers who want military action are likely to vote with Cameron and the government, meaning he should get the “clear majority” he said was essential for action.
However, Labour remains deeply divided, prompting Corbyn to take to the airwaves on Tuesday in a last-ditch appeal to his own lawmakers to vote against air strikes.
“We are going to kill people in their homes by our bombs,” he told BBC radio. “Think of the complications and the implications of what we are doing and please cast your vote against supporting this government’s military endeavors in Syria.”
In a blow to Cameron on the eve of the vote, British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee said he had “not adequately addressed” its concerns on Syria air strikes.
The committee has cast doubt on the legality of the move, its effectiveness in the absence of reliable allies on the ground and its usefulness in the context of finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
While Cameron is expected to win, he is likely to face fresh questions from lawmakers about his claim that there are 70,000 moderate opposition fighters in Syria ready to help secure territory following air strikes.
Scarred by the memory of unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, London has played a smaller role in recent foreign military actions, leading to concerns that Britain’s clout is diminishing on the world stage.
A YouGov opinion poll last week found that 59 percent approved of Britain joining air strikes in Syria, compared with 20 percent who disapproved, but a survey published yesterday showed only 48 percent approved, with 31 percent against.
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