PM: Syria airstrikes alone aren’t enough to defeat IS

DAVID Cameron signalled a climbdown over bombing IS in Syria yesterday and warned that British airstrikes alone ‘won’t transform the situation’.

In a major shift, the PM indicated that plans for RAF raids on IS terrorists in Syria had been put on the back burner in favour of a diplomatic push to secure a peace deal between the Syrian government and rebel forces.

The move came as Barack Obama pressured Mr Cameron and other leaders to ‘step up’ and join the fight against IS, and Vladimir Putin signalled for the first time that he was willing to attack the terror group.

Mr Cameron has been pushing for airstrikes against IS for more than a year, arguing that it makes no sense to attack the group in Iraq but not in Syria.

But at the G20 summit at Antalya in Turkey yesterday, the Prime Minister acknowledged he had not done enough to get MPs and the public to back military intervention.

He suggested that a vote for MPs on the issue had been delayed indefinitely.

John Woodcock, chairman of Labour’s defence committee, urged Mr Cameron yesterday to stop ‘pussyfooting’ on the issue and call the Commons vote.

Mr Cameron said IS would ultimately have to be defeated by military force.

But in a concession to doves in the Labour and Tory parties, he said: ‘People want to know there is a whole plan for the future of Syria, the future of the region. A few extra bombs and missiles won’t transform the situation.’