British Parliament Votes to Bomb ISIS

The British Parliament voted Friday, by 524 to 43, in favor of a government plan to join U.S. and Arab air forces in bombing ISIS militants in Iraq. The motion also condemned the “barbaric acts” by ISIS, such as the beheading of British nationals, and pointed to the request for military assistance from Iraq as the legal basis for action. It does not, however, authorize action in Syria. The win for Prime Minister David Cameron comes a year after the House of Commons rejected a proposal to authorize force in Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s regime used chemical weapons. One Labour member of Parliament, Rushanara Ali, resigned her senior party role in protest at the airstrikes.