British parliament votes in favour of air strikes against IS in Syria

By Kylie MacLellan

British lawmakers voted by 397 to 223 on Wednesday night in favour of launching air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria after more than ten hours of debate.

Britain has been bombing in Iraq for more than a year and Prime Minister David Cameron had urged lawmakers to back extending air strikes to Syria to target militants he said were plotting attacks on the West.

“These terrorists are plotting to kill us and to radicalise our children right now. They attack us because of who we are, not because of what we do,” Cameron told a packed House of Commons.

“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?”

Cameron said high-precision, laser-guided Brimstone missiles would help to make a real difference by hitting the de facto Islamic State capital of Raqqa and its oil-trading business.

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