.jpg "A Royal Air Force Tornado takes off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. (Reuters)")
Afrasianet - Britain’s parliament has voted to launch bombing raids against ISIS in Syria, supporting Prime Minister David Cameron’s case that the country needs to help destroy militants who are “plotting to kill us”.
After more than 10 hours of tense debate, lawmakers voted in favor of air strikes on Wednesday, by 397 to 223. Hours after the vote, four British fighter jets took off from the RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus, a Reuters witness said. The destination of the jets was not immediately clear and there was no comment from British authorities.
A source close to the government said by Thursday morning, Britain conducted its first air strikes on Syria.
The victory hands Cameron the chance to restore Britain’s standing in global affairs. He had urged lawmakers not to turn their back on allies such as France in their time of need.
“Britain is safer tonight because of the decision that the House of Commons has taken,” Foreign Minister Philip Hammond told Sky News.
Many British voters are wary of being dragged into another war in the Middle East. Some view Western intervention in Iraq and Libya as a failure that sowed chaos across the region. News of the vote was met by howls of disgust by dozens of anti-war protesters demonstrating outside parliament.
But the Nov. 13 attacks on Paris that killed 130 people and were claimed by ISIS have stiffened the resolve of some lawmakers and divided the opposition Labour Party, which convinced Cameron he could win the support of parliament for extending air strikes beyond Iraq.
Cameron said the more than four-year Syrian civil war could not be resolved by military action alone, but that the strikes would “degrade” ISIS militants - which he said should be called Daesh, another acronym or name used to describe the extremist group.
“These terrorists are plotting to kill us and to radicalize 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, where many lawmakers sat on steps or stayed standing.