Cameron says Britain should start bombing ISIL in Syria

Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers on Thursday that Britain owes it to allies France and the United States to join airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria.

Cameron, who lost a vote on air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in 2013, needs to persuade several lawmakers in his own Conservative Party and some in the opposition Labour Party to back his cause if he is to win parliament's backing for military action.

Cameron told the House of Commons that U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande had urged Britain to join the military campaign and argued that the Paris attacks have given new urgency to the fight against ISIL.

"These are our closest allies and they want our help," he said.

Cameron said if Britain did not act after ISIL-claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, the U.K.'s allies might well ask, "if not now, when?"

Cameron said Britain will not take military action to remove Assad from power. 

The Royal Air Force is currently part of a U.S.-led coalition attacking the armed groups in Iraq, but not in Syria.

Earlier this month Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British airstrikes would be "incoherent" and ineffective without a plan to end Syria's four-year civil war.

Cameron replied Thursday with a 36-page letter, arguing that Britain should act to deny ISIL a "safe haven" in Syria from which to plot mass-casualty attacks around the world.

He said airstrikes should be part of a "comprehensive overall strategy" to destroy IS, end the Syrian war and help rebuild the country.

Cameron wants to hold a vote in Parliament on airstrikes, but has said he will only do so if he is confident he can win. He's likely to decide after Thursday's Commons debate whether to hold a vote next week.

Wire services