by: LI Lei
update: Dec 03, 2015 14:48 GMT+8
UK parliament votes to back Syria airstrikes after heated debate
Britain will join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) strongholds in Syria after lawmakers on Wednesday voted to authorize the UK's participation.
MPs in the House of Commons voted 397 to 223 in favor of sending RAF Tornados into Syria, following a heated 10-hour debate.
Prime Minister David Cameron started by saying that the UK has the responsibility and capability to join the battle against IS militants in Syria.
"Last week, the whole international coalition had some 26 aircraft available. Eight of those were British Tornadoes, so typically the UK actually represents between a quarter and a third of the international coalition's precision bombing capability. And we also have about a quarter of the unmanned strike capability flying in the region. So we have a significant proportion of high-precision strike capability," Cameron said.