Benefits from bombing IS in Syria ‘don’t outweigh risks’

MPs will today warn against British military intervention in Syria, saying any benefit would be ‘more than outweighed by the risks’.

The cross-party foreign affairs committee says air strikes on Islamic State forces would have only a ‘marginal effect’ on the terror group and damage hopes of a diplomatic solution.

And last night Government sources indicated that a Commons vote on bombing raids had been shelved because not enough MPs would support military action and Russia’s intervention in the country had complicated the situation.

David Cameron would be likely to face defeat in a vote because of the anti-war stance of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, insufficient Labour rebels and the prospect of at least 30 Tory MPs voting against.

The Prime Minister had repeatedly said he wanted to extend RAF bombing of IS from Iraq into Syria, saying the fanatics need to be ‘crushed’ in both countries.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon had said it is ‘illogical’ to attack IS in Iraq without also tackling its Syria strongholds.

But MPs warn today there is no rational case for UK intervention in its civil war, particularly now Russian forces are helping dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Tory committee chairman Crispin Blunt accuses Mr Cameron of wanting to take Britain to war out of a misguided sense that ‘something must be done’. Mr Blunt, an ex-Army officer, says: ‘ We are concerned that the Government is focusing on extending air strikes to Syria, responding to the powerful sense that something must be done to tackle IS in Syria, without any expectation that its action will be militarily decisive, and without a coherent and long-term plan for defeating IS and ending the civil war.’

Today’s report acknowledges that the four-year war has created a ‘catastrophe’ but warns the Government’s arguments are ‘incoherent’ and says debate about military action is a ‘distraction’ from the need to find a political solution.

The committee says Mr Cameron should not ask MPs to vote on extending bombing to Syria ‘unless there is a coherent international strategy that has a realistic chance of defeating IS’. However, the report accepts that defeating IS is a ‘key British national interest’.

Labour’s Mike Gapes and Ann Clwyd voted against some findings, arguing they would back military action in Syria as part of a wider strategy, but they were outvoted by Tory and SNP members.

The RAF has conducted 300 bombing raids against IS in Iraq since September last year.

Mr Cameron shied away from asking MPs to support military action in Syria after former Labour leader Ed Miliband signalled he would oppose it.

Ministers had hoped to stage a fresh Commons vote on Syria this year but the election of Mr Corbyn as Labour leader damaged hopes of a cross-party consensus, leading to the first claims last month that a vote would be shelved.

‘We are concerned at focus on air strikes’