The British Parliament in an emergency session overwhelmingly voted to approve airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria targets in Iraq.
The House of Commons on Friday voted 524 to 43 to authorize airstrikes against Islamic State and join a U.S.-led international coalition created to fight the extremists.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron said Parliament would come out of recess and reconvene to debate Britain’s response to Iraq’s request that it join a coalition of allies in the bombing campaign against the extremists.
Cameron would like the U.K. to join in airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria as well, but he said Wednesday that he isn’t pushing the country to join U.S.-led airstrikes there because the U.K. is still deeply divided on it.
Addressing lawmakers in London, Cameron said they should be prepared for a long and challenging fight.
“This will be a mission that will not just take months but years, and I think we have to be prepared for that commitment,” he said in response to a hostile question from an opposition Labour Party lawmaker, according to Bloomberg.
He said the threat from Islamic State “is not fantasy, it’s happening in front of us and we need to face up to it.”
