UK debates Iraq airstrikes

British parliamentarians are debating the possibility of airstrikes on IS jihadist fighters in Iraq. Later today, lawmakers are expected to vote in favor of military action, despite echoes of the unpopular US-led 2003 invasion under Tony Blair.

Prime Minister David Cameron kicked off the debate at the House of Commons on Friday morning and has argued that Britain should not be "frozen with fear" over fresh military action in Iraq.

Cameron argued that the situation in 2003 was entirely different and the government has emphasized that lawmakers will be asked to vote only on airstrikes and not on sending combat troops.

"This is not 2003 but we must not use past mistakes as an excuse for indifference or inaction," Cameron added.

The military campaign against the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria "will not take months but years," Prime Minister Cameron said.

"The question before the House today is how we keep the British people safe from the threat posed by ISIL and, in particular, what role our armed forces should play in the international coalition to dismantle and ultimately destroy what US President Barack Obama has rightly called this network of death," Cameron told parliament, using the terrorist group's former name, ISIL.

Some lawmakers have expressed fears that there is no clearly defined endpoint to the mission.

Tornados ready to be unleashed

Six British Tornado fighter jets based in Cyprus are poised to begin raids on IS within days or even hours, beginning a military campaign that Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said could last three years. If the vote is passed, Britain would join the US and France in launching targeted strikes on the IS group in Iraq, where it controls swathes of territory, as in neighboring Syria.

IS fighters have beheaded a British aid worker, David Haines and two US journalists, and are holding two other Britons, Alan Henning and John Cantlie.

Britain will not as yet join US-led air strikes on Syria, which are backed by five Arab states. Cameron's government says a separate parliamentary vote would be needed for that to happen.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said that Britain was prepared to fight the IS group until "they no longer pose a real threat."

"We judge that ISIL does pose a serious threat to our security and we will continue to deal with ISIL ... until such time as we judge that it does not pose such a threat," he told BBC radio.

Some lawmakers are expected to oppose military action because of fears that the mission is ill-defined, fueled by memories of Britain's role in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Between 2003 and 2009, 179 British personnel died in Iraq and the last British troops only left the country in 2011.

crh/sb (AFP, dpa)