France would find it “strange” if Britain did not join it in bombing Isis in Syria, the country’s ambassador in London has said.

Sylvie Bermann said France and Britain had “always fought side-by-side” and it was “absolutely essential” that MPs backed David Cameron’s plan to extend RAF air strikes to Syria.

The Prime Minister set out the Government’s seven-point plan for defeating Isis in a 32-page response to the Foreign Affairs Committee, which had previously warned of grave concerns of bombing Syria without a plan on the ground.

Asked how important it is that Britain joins the coalition of countries carrying out air strikes against Isis targets in northern Syria, Ms Bermann told the Today programme: “It’s absolutely essential. It’s very important…we have always fought side-by-side and of course the UK has important capabilities.

“I think we received a lot of solidarity, support from the UK so It would be strange now not to participate in the fight because in fact, those people are planning attacks in in France, in Belgium, but probably also in London."

Mr Cameron needs to win over a number of Labour MPs to outweigh an estimated dozen Tory MPs who are still opposed to air strikes in Syria.

But the Prime Minister has insisted he wants to win a convincing mandate for action, which means that were Jeremy Corbyn to refuse to give a free vote to his MPs, the Government could fail to win a substantional majority.

At an extraordinary meeting of Labour’s frontbench team on Thursday, shadow ministers lined up to support Mr Cameron’s position and called for the party to vote with the Conservatives in favour of air strikes.

Those in favour of action are understood to include the shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn, Mr Corbyn’s deputy, Tom Watson, as well as his Justice, Education and Health spokespeople. Only three shadow cabinet ministers out of 31 voiced opposition to air strikes at the meeting.

But within hours of the meeting breaking up Mr Corbyn wrote to his party’s MPs warning them that he could not support the Prime Minister’s proposals because they would not protect Britain’s security and did not amount to a “coherent strategy” to tackle Isis.

It cast doubt on the prospect of Labour MPs to be given the freedom to vote how they want.

On Friday morning senior Labour MPs called on Mr Corbyn to quit over his handling of the issue.

The Shadow Cabinet will meet on Monday to make a final decision on its position for the vote, which is expected to be called by the Prime Minister on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...n-a6751216.html

Het is natuurlijk vanzelfsprekend dat Frankrijk zoveel mogelijk landen wil opsporen om mee de strijd aan te gaan in Syrië. Wat IS heeft gedaan blijft verschrikkelijk en volgens Hollande willen ze dan ook 'wraak' nemen. Ze willen dat Engeland ook mee bombardementen uitvoert omdat ze altijd al zij aan zij hebben gestaan in zulke situaties. Volgens S. Bermann is het noodzakelijk om Frankrijk te helpen. Ik vind dat dat zij daar niet alleen over kan beslissen dus het is goed dat er een stemming plaats gaat vinden. Het is zo dat het Verenigd Koninkrijk heel wat mogelijkheden heeft als het om oorlog voeren gaat. Daar zal Frankrijk dan ook baat bij hebben. Toch houdt het veel risico's in zoals ook Corbyn dat zegt. Ze kunnen niet zomaar ingaan op het aanbod van S. Bermann want het garandeert natuurlijk niet de veiligheid. Ze zullen dus goed moeten nadenken over de manier waarop ze IS willen saboteren.