Britain’s parliament looks set to vote in favour of joining the bombing campaign against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria on Wednesday, paving the way for sorties by UK planes to start within days.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who stepped up pressure for air strikes after last month’s Paris attacks, will lead the House of Commons into more than 10 hours of debate on joining the US-led international military action.
Ministers are confident that lawmakers will then vote “Yes”, meaning the first Royal Air Force (RAF) planes could be bombing targets in Syria by the end of the week.
Cameron insists military action is needed to prevent attacks like the ones that killed 130 people in Paris last month, while insisting it will be accompanied by a diplomatic push to resolve the crisis in Syria.