Britain launches warplanes hours after Parliament backs Syria airstrikes

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the British move and said the coalition would work “to integrate them into our coalition air tasking orders as quickly as possible.”

British airstrikes

Prime Minister David Cameron kicked off the debate by saying that ISIS is a threat to the British people, proved in part through the beheadings of UK hostages in the Middle East and other atrocities.

“This is not about whether we want to fight terrorism. It’s about how best we do that,” Cameron said.

He said the UK faces “‘a fundamental threat to our security” and posed the question, “Do we work with our allies to degrade and destruct this threat … or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?”

“This is the right thing to do to keep Britain safe, to deal with this evil organization and as part of a process to bring peace and stability to Syria,” Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told CNN.

Hammond said the military campaign will have two stages: airstrikes to degrade ISIS capabilities and an eventual ground assault.

The airstrikes can begin “pretty much straight away” after the vote passes, he said.

In his rebuttal to Cameron, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn called the Syria decision “one with potentially far-reaching consequences for us all, here in Britain, people in Syria and those in Middle East.”

Corbyn called for Cameron to explain “how British bombing in Syria will contribute to a comprehensive, negotiated, political settlement of the Syrian war.”

After the vote, Corbyn tweeted that Cameron pushed for the Parliament vote after he saw opposition in the country was growing. Corbyn said a diplomatic settlement on Syria should be the goal.

Britain’s Parliament voted in 2013 against UK military action in Syria. Lawmakers in the House of Commons rebuffed Cameron’s call for a strong response to allegations the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in the civil war. Parliamentary authorization has only been given for UK military action in neighboring Iraq as part of the international coalition against ISIS.

German reconnaissance

German legislators on Wednesday were debating on an expanded commitment, deploying high-tech intelligence jets over Syria and northern Iraq to help other countries’ forces pinpoint targets.

The Cabinet, representing a country known for its reluctance since World War II to engage in military adventures abroad, approved the military support mission against ISIS in Syria this week. Lawmakers must approve it, too, before it takes effect.

The measure reportedly has overwhelming political support, with only two smaller parties objecting. The vote is widely seen as a rubber stamping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent commitment to France’s Hollande.

In addition to sending troops and equipment in a support capacity against ISIS in Syria, Germany would strengthen its training mission in northern Iraq, according to German public media news site Deutsche Welle.

Germany has not committed to airstrikes, and its post-World War II constitution hinders it in participating in battle on foreign soil.