US drone strike kills Islamic State leader; Was on Treasury sanctions list

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said no action would be taken without a House of Commons vote and a “consensus” among British MPs.

The Peshmerga have been successfully fighting Isis, driving them back from the gates of Erbil and, with the support of Kurds from neighbouring Syria, re-establishing control over parts of Iraq’s northwest.

He wants to be sure he can win after Ed Miliband effectively blocked military strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2013.

“We know that Isil is organised and directed from northern Syria”, he told the Commons. However, this method of targeting terrorist groups has already been tried and tested across the globe, and more often than not, it fails with disastrous implications.

“Any potential action must command the support of other nations in the region, including Iraq and the coalition already taking action in Syria”.

The spokeswoman also said Prime Minister Cameron would not ask lawmakers to vote immediately and to allow his cabinet to take up measures.

The question would need to be “properly and carefully deliberated” before Cameron decided whether or not to call a vote, his spokeswoman said.

Some sites in Syria had been ransacked so badly they no longer had any value for historians and archaeologists, and Unesco was also increasingly anxious about Libya, she said.

Traditionally, British governments do not need parliamentary authorization to use military action.

“The exception to that, as the Prime Minister has always made clear, is where we think there is an imminent threat, a very direct to British lives or for example to British hostages”. We have suffered like the Jews at the hands of these surrounding countries, and we are very pro-West.

“He’s been clear about the threat ISIL poses to our national security, whether they are operating in Libya, whether they are operating in Syria or Iraq”. Kurdish forces, whose commanders say they aren’t getting enough assist from the US and other allies, have been making headway against ISIS.

But he added: “This is of course though a new parliament and it is for all members to consider how best to tackle Isil, an evil caliphate that doesn’t respect state boundaries”.

The United States has been pressing Cameron, especially after he won a majority in May’s election, to become more engaged in worldwide problems, including Ukraine and the Middle East, and to commit Britain to spending the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation target of 2 percent of its gross domestic product on the military.

“I think on, it has to be said, every occasion, exactly the reverse has come about”.