British Prime Minister David Cameron has suspended plans for a parliamentary vote on extending British anti-ISIS airstrikes to Syria as he is not sure to win over enough votes for approval. This definitely is a worrisome matter for President Obama who was trying to form a more effective coalition against Isis.
A Foreign Affairs Committee report suggested to Cameron not to join airstrikes unless there is coherent international strategy that can really defeat ISIS.
Reportedly, Cameron is under pressure of leader of U.K.’s labor party Corbyn, the former chairman of the, “Stop the War Coalition” who has convinced the main party of the opposition to isolate Britain from such military interventions.
Most of the U.K. media outlets such as The Guardian and The Times of London reported Cameron was planning to put a vote forward in the House of Commons on joining the U.S. in air strikes in Syria as the Obama administration seeks to reclaim its footing amidst developing Russian presence. Though the U.K. has joined the U.S. in conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq since 2014, reports are that Cameron has since dropped the move.
Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, spoke to FoxNews.com, “I think Corbyn is the single biggest factor driving the prime minister’s decision. Corbyn has taken the Labour Party down an extreme far-left route and the Labour Party now is increasingly against almost any kind of overseas British military intervention.”
On the other hand it is also reported that Cameron is still trying to build consensus and has the position that the government carries on its efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria and it is working closely with allies to find a political situation which we’ve always believed will be the way to end this war.”
Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom called this situation in London “very bad news” for the White House. He said, “This is without a doubt a huge blow to the U.S.-led international coalition in Iraq and Syria. Although Britain will continue to play a role in terms of airstrikes in Iraq, Syria is really emerging as the main battleground and so the British move significantly undermines the U.S. position and makes it far harder to build a powerful U.S.-led coalition for military action inside Syria.”
Canada, another important U.S. ally, has also denied becoming part in strikes.
