UK Prime Minister David Cameron edged closer to calling a parliamentary vote on British airstrikes against Daesh in Syria on Tuesday, announcing he would personally make the case for deployment.
Britain has been striking Daesh targets in Iraq from the air since September 2014, although Cameron has long wanted to broaden the mission to include the group’s positions in Syria.
Earlier this month, parliament’s influential foreign affairs committee had said it was “not yet persuaded” that aerial strikes would defeat the group and help end the Syrian civil war.
However, on Tuesday Cameron said he would demonstrate why he believes airstrikes are a vital step towards defeating Daesh.
“It is in Syria, in Raqqa, that ISIL [Daesh] has its headquarters and it is from Raqqa that some of the main threats against this country are planned and orchestrated,” he told the House of Commons. “Raqqa, if you like, is the head of the snake.
“Over Syria we are supporting our allies the US, France, Jordan and the Gulf countries with intelligence, with surveillance and with refueling. But I believe, as I have said many times before, we should be doing more. We face a direct and growing threat to our country and we need to deal with it not just in Iraq but in Syria too.”
Cameron said the case for UK strikes had “grown stronger” after Friday’s attacks in Paris, in which 129 people were killed.
“We cannot expect, we should not expect, others to carry the burdens and risks of protecting our country,” he said.
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said during the debate that Cameron should not be drawn “at a time of such tragedy and outrage... into responses which feed a cycle of violence and hatred.”
He said Daesh had grown out of Britain’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, a point Cameron rejected by pointing out extremist organizations had existed “for more than 20 years”.
“There's Boko Haram, there's al-Qaeda, there's Al Shabaab, and it is worth making the point, of course, that the first manifestations of this violent Islamist extremism - not least the Twin Towers attack - that happened before the invasion of Iraq,” Cameron said.
“I do think it's important we don't try to seek excuses for what is a death cult and a death cult that's been killing British citizens for many, many years.”
