British jets bomb IS targets in Syria

The ministry said no civilians were near the targets.

Now, Corbyn’s strongest ally and the shadow chancellor John McDonnell has jumped to his defence and is warning Britain about the consequences of taking large-scale military action.

Corbyn called for Cameron to explain “how British bombing in Syria will contribute to a comprehensive, negotiated, political settlement of the Syrian war”.

Germany’s defense minister is heading to Turkey as Berlin prepares to send reconnaissance jets and other help in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense says its jets struck at oil facilities in Syria, hours after Parliament voted for Britain to join allies in bombarding the Islamic State group.

The German plan would activate 1,200 troops in anti-ISIS efforts, but in a support role – not direct combat.

Degrading ISIS’ access to oil, which helps fund their regime of terror, is a key aim of the US-led coalition as well as the Russian forces active in Syria.

The decision to extend bombing to Syria divided the opposition Labour Party, opposed by its leader Jeremy Corbyn but supported by its foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn in a passionate speech in parliament.

A bruising debate began Wednesday morning in Parliament, with a vote expected late in the evening after more than 10 hours of discussion.

The United States has conducted the vast majority of allied bombing runs in Syria, but France has escalated its contributions in the weeks since the Paris attacks.

After Islamic State claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks last month that killed 130 people in Paris, Cameron vowed to expand his country’s military contribution to operations in both of the terrorist group’s main sanctuaries.

France, Russia and the United States are already bombing militants in Syria.

On Wednesday, Russia’s deputy defense minister, Anatoly Antonov, accused Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of benefiting from illegal oil trade with Islamic State militants.

Cameron did not retract the comments but said “there’s honor in voting for, there’s honor in voting against” the motion to back airstrikes.

Woodford Green and Chingford MP Iain Duncan Smith said he was part of the government and would therefore support the government and that the decision would be in “the national interest to answer the call from our allies” and was “the right thing to do to help to keep Britain safe”. Many lawmakers came to regret supporting the war and ensuing chaos, and blamed then-Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair for lacking a plan for post-war reconstruction.

Corbyn said a diplomatic settlement on Syria should be the goal. “It’s hard-headed common sense”.

“In full coordination with the government of Iraq, we’re deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL”, Carter said before the House Armed Services Committee, using another name for ISIS.

But Cameron said doing nothing was a worse option.