Britain’s parliament debates Cameron’s call to air war in Syria

Westminster was packed on Thursday as Prime Minister David Cameron laid out his case for intervention in Syria. A vote will be held on extending the RAF’s bombing campaign against ISIL into Syria will be taken early next week, and MPs insisted on debating the issue. Cameron insisted there was a “moral” case to answer, and a security imperative. “In the last 12 months our police and security services have disrupted no fewer than seven terrorist plots to attack the UK. Everyone of which is either linked to ISIL or inspired by their propaganda. So I am in no doubt that is in our national interest for action to be taken to stop them. And stopping them means taking action in Syria,” he said. The RAF is already engaged in bombing ISIL targets in Iraq with its Tornado and Typhoon fighter-bombers where its effectiveness has been criticised. Critics of a purely air-based resistance to ISIL argue that safe zones protected on the ground are needed.