David Cameron: Why Britain has a duty to intervene in Syria

Decisions to use force are not to be taken lightly. It is right that Parliament, on behalf of the people, asks difficult questions and holds the Government to account.

For its part, it is important that the Government should listen and learn. But it is also vital that the Government can act to keep this country safe.

Throughout Britain’s history, we have been called on time and again to make the hardest of decisions in defence of our citizens and our country.

Today one of the greatest threats we face to our security is the threat from ISIL. We need a comprehensive response which seeks to deal with the threat that ISIL poses to us directly, not just through the measures we are taking at home, but by dealing with ISIL on the ground in the territory that it controls. It is in Raqqa, Syria, that ISIL has its headquarters, and it is from Raqqa that some of the main threats against this country are planned and orchestrated.

We must tackle ISIL in Syria, as we are doing in neighbouring Iraq, in order to deal with the threat that ISIL poses to the region and to our security here at home. We have to deny a safe haven for ISIL in Syria. The longer ISIL is allowed to grow in Syria, the greater the threat it will pose. It is wrong for the United Kingdom to sub-contract its security to other countries, and to expect the aircrews of other nations to carry the burdens and the risks of striking ISIL in Syria to stop terrorism here in Britain.

That is why I believe that we should now take the decision to extend British airstrikes against ISIL into Syria. At the same time, we must close down the ungoverned space in Syria that ISIL is exploiting, by working round the clock to bring about a political resolution to the war there.

That means putting Britain’s full diplomatic weight, as a full member of an international coalition, behind the new political talks – the Vienna process. It means working through these talks to secure a transition to an inclusive Government in Syria that responds to the needs of all the Syrian people and with which the international community could co-operate fully to help restore peace and stability to the whole country.

It means continuing to support the moderate opposition in Syria, so that there is a credible alternative to ISIL and Assad. It means using our aid budget to alleviate the immediate humanitaria suffering. It means insisting, with other countries, on the preparation of proper stabilisation and reconstruction effort in Syria once the conflict has been brought to an end. And it means continuing, and stepping up, our effort here at home to counter radicalisation.

We must pursue all these tracks in parallel. As the threat from ISIL to our national security grows, we must take action - recognising that no course of action is without risk, but that inaction – not dealing with ISIL at source – also carries grave risk.

ISIL has been behind more than 40 successful terrorist attacks around the world in just the last 12 months. The murder of 30 British citizens holidaying in Tunisia in June was linked to ISIL. In October, ISIL murdered 102 people at a peace rally in Ankara and a Russian passenger plane was blown out of the sky, killing 224 people flying home from Sharm-el-Sheikh – a resort visited by tens of thousands of British tourists each year. In November, ISIL murdered 43 people in Beirut and at least 130 people in Paris, including one Briton.

ISIL terrorises and murders Iraqis and Syrians each and every day. We know that ISIL has deadly intent to strike us at home too. In the last 12 months, Britain’s police and security services have disrupted no fewer than seven terrorist plots to attack the UK. All seven plots were either linked to ISIL, or were inspired by ISIL’s propaganda.

ISIL has a dedicated external operations structure in Syria, which is planning mass casualty attacks around the world. ISIL targets our young people, using sophisticated grooming techniques to lure them to Syria – to fight; to blow themselves up as suicide bombers; or to condemn themselves to lives of subjugation, oppression and cruelty.

Around 800 British individuals of national security concern have travelled to Syria since the conflict began. Many have joined ISIL and other terrorist groups. Of those who are known to have travelled, about half have returned. Some of these, and many of those who remain in Syria, pose a threat to our security.

ISIL targets our way of life, spreading fear and terror. They exploit the internet both to radicalise and recruit the vulnerable, and to incite and direct extremists to carry out attacks outside Syria. They wish to target our infrastructure, and are seeking to orchestrate cyber attacks to do so.

There were 299 arrests in the UK in the year ending 31 March 2015 for terrorism-related offences: an increase of 31 per cent compared with the previous year and the highest number since data collection began in 2001. We have also seen the youngest ever convicted terrorist in the UK, when a 15-year-old boy was sentenced to life in prison last month, following his radicalisation over the internet and contact with individuals based in Syria who had urged him to plan acts of terror in the UK.

In June, a 17 year-old from West Yorkshire (Talha Asmal) became the youngest ever UK suicide bomber, blowing himself up in Iraq. This is further evidence of ISIL poisoning the minds of our young people to commit the most terrible acts.

ISIL poses a significant threat to the stability of the region, including to the security of Jordan, one of the UK’s key allies. ISIL’s offshoots and affiliates are spreading instability and conflict in Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen and Nigeria. In the Middle East, they are seeking to establish their vision of a caliphate across Iraq and Syria, forcing people in those areas to yield to their rule or face torture or death. They have beheaded aid workers, organised systematic rape, enslaved Yazidi women and thrown gay people off buildings. All these atrocities belong to the dark ages.

We do not have the luxury of being able to wait until the Syrian conflict is resolved before tackling ISIL. Nor should we wait until an attack takes place here: we should act in advance, recognising that there are inherent risks in any course. The threats we face are urgent. Equally, there will be no end to the chaos in which ISIL thrives and which fuels migration, for as long as the conflict in Syria endures.

David Cameron is the Prime Minister. This is part of the text of his letter to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee on the case for UK military intervention in Syria.