After the November 13 terror attacks in Paris, France asked its allies to bump up their military offensive against ISIS. It’s time for Britain and Germany’s turn to decide if they will.
In both countries, parliamentarians will vote to approve their leaders’ requests to do so. And the measures are expected to pass.
British airstrikes
British MPs will debate for 10 and a half hours Wednesday and then vote on whether to expand UK airstrikes to include ISIS strongholds in Syria.
Britain is already part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS from the air, but has until now limited strikes to targets in Iraq.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who visited French President Francois Hollande after the attacks that killed 130 people, has pushed for the expansion.
It is needed to counter “the very direct threat that (ISIS) poses to our country and our way of life,” he told a gathering of Parliament.
Britain needs “to take action now, to help protect us against the terrorism seen on the streets of Paris and elsewhere,” Cameron said.
Cameron, a conservative, faces some opposition from the Labour Party, which has said that there is a lack of a coherent plan to fight ISIS. But dozens of its members support the move and will not vote en bloc as a party against it. Approval is expected to pass.
German reconnaissance
German parliamentarians will also vote Wednesday on an expanded commitment, deploying high-tech intelligence jets over Syria and Northern Iraq to help other countries’s forces pinpoint targets.
The measure reportedly has overwhelming political support, with only two smaller parties objecting. The vote is widely seen as a rubber stamping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent commitment to French President Francois Hollande.
Germany is also to strengthen its training mission in Northern Iraq as part of its increased support, according to German public media news site Deutsche Welle.
Germany has not committed to airstrikes, and its post-World War II constitution hinders it in participating in battle on foreign soil.
U.S. special forces
The United States has already been pummeling the extremist group’s de facto capital of Raqqa. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Washington will send in a special targeting force to carry out raids against ISIS in Iraq, including capturing ISIS leaders.