UK to join airstrikes in Iraq
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
London (CNN) -- British lawmakers meeting in emergency session approved a motion Friday to participate in airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.
The 524-43 vote came after Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament that the country had a "duty to take part" in international efforts to combat the extremist group.
The terror group is an organization of "staggering" brutality, he said, which has already killed one British hostage and threatens the lives of two more.
"This is not a threat on the far side of the world," he said, but one which menaces European nations directly.
In addition to an ISIS-inspired attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels earlier in the year, Europe's security agencies have disrupted six other ISIS-linked plots, he said.
Parliament was recalled by Cameron for the vote on military action in Iraq, which was approved after lengthy debate in the House of Commons and House of Lords. Any proposal to expand the strikes to Syria would require additional action by Parliament, according to the motion.
Cameron said Britain should join international allies in combating ISIS, a campaign that he warned would take years, not months. "The hallmarks will be patience and persistence, not shock and awe," he said.
The government insists such action is legal because Iraq's government has requested international help to tackle the Sunni extremist group, which has overrun vast swathes of Iraq and Syria and massacred religious minorities and Shia Muslims.
Cameron made that point again Friday, saying there was "no question" of the legality of action given the request by Iraq's leaders and the broad international backing for the campaign against ISIS.
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UK to join airstrikes in Iraq