British MPs back airstrikes against ISIL Government wins vote on fresh airstrikes.

British MPs on Wednesday night backed David Cameron’s call to launch bombing raids against ISIL in Syria.

Following a 10-hour parliamentary debate, the government won the vote by 397 to 223.

Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, said after the vote that Britain was "safer because of the actions taken by MPs today."

An estimated 67 Labour MPs backed the government, in defiance of their party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Opening the debate, Cameron said "this is not about whether we fight terrorism, it’s about how best we do that."

The U.K. is already conducting airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq. What Cameron sought and got from MPs was support for joining France, the U.S. and Russia in bombing targets in Syria. The bombing raids will begin within days.

The debate revealed huge splits in the opposition Labour Party, with Corbyn, a former chairman of the Stop The War coalition, opposed to the increased military action.

Corbyn was upstaged by his foreign affairs spokesman, Hilary Benn, who made the speech of the evening and received applause from MPs on all sides.

Benn, who supported the government’s call for action in Syria, said: “The question which confronts us in a very, very complex conflict is — at its heart — very simple. What we do with others to confront this threat to our citizens, our nation, other nations and the people who suffer under the cruel yoke of Daesh. The carnage in Paris brought home to us the clear and present danger we face from them. It could just as easily have been London or Glasgow or Leeds or Birmingham and it could still be."

Cameron was repeatedly asked to apologize for calling Corbyn and others opposed to airstrikes "terrorist sympathizers" at a private meeting Tuesday night.

Corbyn said the phrase "demeans the office of the prime minister and I believe undermines the seriousness of deliberations we are having today.”

Benn came to his party leader's defence, however, saying that Corbyn is "not a terrorist sympathizer. He is an honest, a principled, a decent and a good man."

A change of language

Replying to a question about how he could guarantee that civilian casualties would be kept to a minimum, Cameron said there had been no such casualties in Iraq from British bombing, and that the Royal Air Force would go after the leaders of Daesh and their communications and training facilities.

Earlier, Cameron said he was no longer going to use the terms ISIL or Islamic State and would follow France's lead by using Daesh, "because frankly this evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam nor is it a state."

"The House should be under no illusion that these terrorists are plotting to kill us and to radicalize our children right now," Cameron added, hoping to avoid a humiliating defeat like the one he suffered in August 2013, when a vote on military action against the Assad regime in Syria was lost.

Cameron wrapped up his speech by saying, "I know there are some who suggest that military action could in some way undermine our counter-extremism strategy by radicalizing British Muslims, so let me take this head on — British Muslims are appalled by Daesh. These women-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval murderers are hijacking the peaceful religion of Islam for their warped ends."

In response, Corbyn set out his case against airstrikes. "Taking a decision that will put British servicemen and women in harm’s way and almost inevitably lead to the deaths of innocents is a heavy responsibility," he said.

Asked if he supported the ongoing airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq, Corbyn refused to answer. He voted against that military action in 2014. But he did reject that British bombing in Syria would make a difference.

"The claim that superior British missiles will make the difference is hard to credit when the U.S. and other states are struggling to find suitable targets. In other words, extending U.K. bombing is highly unlikely to work."

Corbyn, who was loudly heckled by Conservative MPs, said his stance was "hard-headed common sense" not pacifism.

The Labour leader was backed in his anti-strikes message by Angus Robertson, the leader of the Scottish National Party in the parliament. "I appeal to colleagues on all sides to learn the lessons from Afghanistan, not to ignore the lessons of Iraq, not to ignore the lessons of Libya. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. Let’s not give the green light to military action without a comprehensive and credible plan to win the peace."

After the vote, Robertson said, “Today, Scotland has been dragged into a war with no exit strategy ... The U.K. government is going to have a huge problem with legitimacy and mandate for this operation in Syria from the people of Scotland. Quite simply the case for bombing Syria has not been made.’’

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he would support the government but “the specter of the Iraq war in 2003 hangs over this House and hangs over the whole debate that we’re having in this country."

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