Britain has launched airstrikes in Syria, hours after MPs backed David Cameron’s plan for military action in the war-torn country.
MPs voted 397 to 223 – a comfortable majority of 174 – on Wednesday night to extend UK airstrikes from Iraq into Syria to hit ISIS territory. Some 66 Labour MPs were among those backing military action – far higher than estimates earlier in the day.
Hours later, four RAF jets took off from a British air base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, striking targets in Syria, according to a defence official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Reports had claimed that strikes could begin overnight on Wednesday but government sources refused to comment for "operational" reasons. More information on the nature of the targets was to be released later Thursday.
The UK now joins France, the US, and Russia in bombing targets in Syria as part of a wider strategy to wipe out the extremists.
Kicking off the 10-hour debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Cameron urged MPs from all sides to back military action against "women-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval monsters". Speaking weeks after terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, the PM warned that ISIS was "plotting to kill us and radicalise our children right now".
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who allowed Labour MPs a free vote amid deep divisions in his party, warned against an "ill-thought-out rush to war". Yet 11 of his shadow cabinet backed airstrikes, including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, deputy leader Tom Watson, and shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander.
Shadow chief whip Rosie Winterton is thought to have abstained on the issue. However, Cameron would have won a majority without Labour's support. The vast majority of Tories backed the motion – only seven voted against, and seven abstained – and the Democratic Unionists and the Liberal Democrats also supported it.
A cross-party amendment to block airstrikes, tabled by Tory MP John Baron, was defeated by 390 votes to 211 votes.
US president Barack Obama welcomed the vote, saying: "We look forward to having British forces flying with the coalition over Syria, and will work to integrate them into our Coalition Air Tasking Orders as quickly as possible."
It was the closing speech from Hilary Benn – and his passionate support for airstrikes – that truly impressed MPs.
Applause is very rarely heard in the Commons chamber but MPs from all sides loudly clapped and cheered Benn – while Corbyn sat in stony silence.
Benn said: "We are here faced by fascists – not just their calculated brutality but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in this chamber tonight and all of the people we represent.
"They hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt. They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt. They hold our democracy, the means by which we will make our decision tonight, in contempt. And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated. … My view is that we must now confront this evil. It is now time to do our bit in Syria."
After the debate, Benn was deluged with MPs congratulating him on his speech – with some even asking him to sign their order paper.
Corbyn took the opposite view – telling Cameron that public opposition to his "ill-thought-out rush to war is growing".
The Labour leader said: "Whether it's the lack of a strategy worth the name, the absence of credible ground troops, the missing diplomatic plan for a Syrian settlement, the failure to address the impact on the terrorist threat, or the refugee crisis and civilian casualties, it's become increasingly clear that the prime minister's proposals for military action simply do not stack up."
Corbyn also questioned Cameron's claim over the existence of 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters ready to help, saying bluntly it was "quite clear there are no such forces". Corbyn's spokesperson later suggested that airstrikes in Syria would make Britain more vulnerable to a terror attack.
After the vote, Corbyn released this statement.
British service men and women will now be in harm’s way and the loss of innocent lives is sadly almost inevitable
Anti-war protesters in Parliament Square booed loudly as the result was announced.
The demonstrators chanted "Not in my name" as MPs left parliament for the night.
Labour MP Margaret Beckett was among those MPs whose speeches were widely praised across the house. She said: "I invite the house to consider how we would feel and what we would say if what took place in Paris had happened in London – if we had explicitly asked France for support, and France had refused.
"These are genuinely extremely difficult as well as extremely serious decisions. But it is the urging of the United Nations and of the Socialist government in France that for me have been the tipping point in my decision to support military action."
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, whose party is backing strikes, said it was the "toughest call I've ever had to make". He said both the UN resolution and his own experiences of visiting refugee camps had helped make up his mind.
"I can give you anecdote after anecdote that would break your heart," he said, "but one in particular is a 7-year-old lad being lifted from a dinghy on the beach at Lesbos, and my Arabic interpreter said to me that lad has just said to his dad: 'Daddy, are ISIL here?'"
But Cameron also faced opposition from a number of Tory MPs who said they had not been persuaded by his arguments.
John Baron called for a "long-term strategy, a realistic strategy", adding: "Otherwise we risk repeating the errors that we made in Iraq, in Helmand, in Libya, and would have made only two years ago in this house if we had allowed the government to intervene on behalf of the rebels."
David Davis, a former shadow home secretary, warned against "symbolic" airstrikes and said Turkey and Saudi Arabia must do more to tackle ISIS. "If we want to do something straightaway which will do more than several squadrons of aircraft, it's get our allies to do their job," he said.
"People have raised several times: 'Shouldn't we help the French?' Yes. We should help our allies. We should help our allies by destroying ISIS, by doing it properly, not by symbolism."
Julian Lewis, chair of the Commons defence committee, cast doubt over the 70,000 fighters claim, saying: "Instead of having dodgy dossiers, we now have bogus battalions of moderate fighters."
He said: "Honourable members are being asked to back airstrikes against Daesh to show solidarity with our French and American friends. Yet a gesture of solidarity, however sincerely meant, cannot be a substitute for hard-headed strategy.
"Most defence committee members probably intend to vote for such airstrikes, but I shall vote against airstrikes, in the absence of credible ground forces, as ineffective and potentially dangerous, just as I voted against the proposal to bomb Assad in 2013."