(LONDON, England)
The UK Parliament has backed British participation in air strikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq.
After a seven-hour debate, MPs voted for military action by 524 votes to 43.
The Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour all backed air strikes although some MPs expressed concerns about where it would lead and the prospect of future engagement in Syria.
The BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson said RAF planes could be called into action as early as Sunday.
Prime Minister David Cameron said intervention at the request of the Iraqi government was “morally justified” to combat a “brutal terrorist organisation” and was clearly lawful.
He won support from Labour leader Ed Miliband who said inaction would lead to “more killing” in Iraq, large swathes of which are controlled by Islamic State.
But shadow education minister Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, resigned from the party’s front bench in order to abstain in the vote.
The BBC’s political correspondent Ben Wright said although there was “wide agreement” among MPs that action to confront IS was necessary, there was “great anxiety” about what the outcome of the struggle – which David Cameron has warned could take years – will be.
The US began a series of air strikes in Iraq last month, and on Monday it began attacks on targets in Syria.
Jets from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined US forces in the attacks, and the US says more than 40 countries have offered to join the anti-IS coalition.
(BBC)

MPs support UK air strikes against IS