AFP | An RAF jet prepares to land at the Akrotiri British airbase, Cyprus, after returning from a mission over Iraq in 2014

An influential British parliamentary committee on Tuesday dealt a blow to Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans to extend military action against the Islamic State (IS) group from Iraq into Syria.

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The Foreign Affairs Select Committee -- a cross-party body that scrutinises Britain's foreign policy -- warned that Britain should not extend its air strikes into Syria until there is a coherent international strategy with a "realistic" chance of defeating the militants.

"In the absence of such a strategy, taking action to meet the desire to do something is still incoherent," the committee said in a report published on Tuesday.

The committee, chaired by a parliamentarian from Cameron's own ruling Conservative Party, said the government should not seek parliamentary approval for military action until it provides comprehensive details.

Legality of air strikes

It called on the government to explain how British involvement would improve the chances of the international coalition's success, warned about the legal ambiguity of taking action without a UN Security Council Resolution and asked which ground forces would support Britain's air effort.

Committee chair Crispin Blunt said there was now an "alarming range" of international actors involved in Iraq and Syria and that there was no expectation that British intervention in Syria would be militarily decisive.

"These forces desperately need coordinating into a coherent strategy and that is where our efforts should be focussed," he added.

The report urged the government to concentrate on supporting international diplomacy to end Syria's civil war.

Despite the damming report, Cameron has not dropped plans to seek parliamentary approval for air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria, a source in his office told Reuters.

Iraq and Syria a ‘single theatre of conflict’

Cameron was defeated in a 2013 vote on possible UK military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government by 285 votes to 272.

Cameron said at the time that he would respect Parliament’s decision and ruled out joining US-led strikes – although it later emerged that British pilots embedded with coalition forces had conducted air strikes against IS group over Syria.

In response to the report, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Tuesday that ministers would continue to use "every tool available" to save lives in the region, arguing that it was illogical to conduct air strikes in Iraq and not neighbouring Syria, saying the two countries are "a single theatre of conflict".

"Air strikes against ISIL (the IS group) are not the sole solution but military action, in coordination with our coalition allies, is having a substantial impact in degrading ISIL in Iraq," he added.

"It is right that we continue to use military force against ISIL while we use diplomatic power to work towards a political solution in the Syrian war."

Diplomatic divisions



Meanwhile in France, President François Hollande said Paris would continue its air strikes in Syria and would hold a defence council meeting to discuss the matter on Thursday.

"Every time we have information on training camps where there are jihadists, terrorists, who could at some point threaten our country, we strike," he told Europe 1 radio.

Serious divisions remain over the right way to bring the Syrian crisis to an end.

Talks in Vienna last week failed to achieve a breakthrough, particularly over the issue of the fate of Assad.

On one side, Russia and Iran are backing Assad's forces on the ground and say the Damascus regime, as the legitimate authority in Syria, must be helped to defeat "terrorism" before a political process can take shape.

The dynamic in the Syrian conflict shifted after Russia launched its air campaign on September 30, claiming it was targeting IS group fighters, although it reportedly struck at other groups being supported by the US-led coalition.

On the other side, the United States and its key regional allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia are supporting groups fighting Assad and insist he must go.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced plans to step up attacks on IS group jihadists in Syria and Iraq, with Defence Secretary Ashton Carter saying he expected more air strikes and even possible "direct action on the ground".

More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria's war since it began in March 2011 following a bloody crackdown on protests against Assad's rule.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

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