Britain to UN: Syrian drone strike was in self-defense

With essentials like this, the prime minister commanded an order to strike under the legal advice of his Attorney General.

Jihadi John is at the head of a “kill list” of five Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremists signed off by David Cameron as legitimate targets for drone strikes in Syria, The Daily Telegraph understands. In 2013, Cameron suffered a shock defeat in Parliament when he asked for permission to carry out airstrikes in Syria, making him the first British prime minister to lose a vote on waging war since 1782.

“We wouldn’t hesitate.” Ahmed Muthana, from Cardiff, said he feared for his sons Aseel, 17, and Naseer, 21, who went to Syria last year.

Syrian insurgents killed 56 government soldiers during an assault that led to their capture of an air base in the northwest of the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Thursday.

“They were known to have been in touch with people planning attacks in the West. They were prolific online recruiters and were offering directions to individuals”, a Western intelligence source said.

A state has a guaranteed right to self-defense, according to article 51 of the United Nations charter, but the way in which that is interpreted differs. Cameron acted as prime minister with public commitments to defend the country that may not be in war, but has been threatened to receive terrorist attacks.

Mohammad Islam, a former local councillor and family friend of Khan’s, said the whole community and family are “very much devastated and shocked” at his death. The PM’s spokesperson at the time insisted that such flights did not amount to “military action” but also insisted that in an emergency situation, Cameron would authorise the drones to launch strikes. The attorney-general, the government’s chief law officer, had concluded that “there would be a clear legal basis for action under international law”.

Mr Cameron said the latest strike was sanctioned by the National Security Council after British security forces alerted him to the threat posed by Mr Khan.

To avoid the challenge of what should be done about Assad, the prime minister and his ministers have long invoked the spectre of Islamic State.

Two years ago, MPs rejected possible UK military action in Syria. “But I am not prepared to stand here in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on our streets and have to explain why I did not take the chance to prevent it when I could have done”.

“We have taken a significant threat off the battlefield and have made it very clear (to) ISIL leadership we are going to target them… just as we’re targeting their communications nodes, logistics nodes and military equipment”, he said.

Hussain said it “will be big” and “hit soldiers in their own land”.

“In an act of self defence and after meticulous planning Reyaad Khan was killed in an airstrike on August 21”.

Craig called upon the government to immediately offer a full explanation of the factual and legal logic for the strikes.

But acting Labour leader Harriet Harman is among the critics urging government to publish the legal advice so it can be subjected to independent scrutiny.