Summary

  • UK launches first air strikes against so-called Islamic State in Syria

  • Cyprus-based RAF Tornado jets target oil fields in eastern Syria

  • Prime Minister David Cameron warns campaign 'is going to take time'

  • Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had said case for war 'does not stack up'

  • MPs voted in favour of military action in Syria by 397 to 223

Live Reporting

Stephen Robb, Alison Daye and Emma Harrison

  1. Daily Politics discusses air strikes

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  2. Watch: David Lammy warns bombing will create new generation of extremists

    Labour MP was speaking in Wednesday's debate

    David Lammy tells MPs terror attacks are acts of 'holy war' and will create new extremists

  3. Frank Gardner: Why wait to target IS economy?

    The first UK air strikes have reportedly targeted oilfields in eastern Syria, leading BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner to question the timing:

    If you have worked out they are funding themselves largely through oil sales, to Turkish and Syrian middlemen selling on to end buyers elsewhere, why has it taken 15 months plus of air campaign to work out that that's a good idea?

    It was the Russians who started this. They have been releasing incredible footage of targeting snaking long lines of oil tankers. Of course it's tough on the drivers of these tankers, but they knew who they were working for.

    If they can cut off IS's oil income, they will have less money and it will make it harder for them to pay fighters and encourage people to go over and join them.

  4. Watch: Andy Burnham on why he voted against air strikes

    Labour's shadow home secretary on BBC News Channel

    Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham outlines why he voted against air strikes

  5. Livingstone: Vote 'doesn't mean it's going to be right'

    Ken Livingstone

    Ken Livingstone says Britain's decision to bomb Syria is mistaken regardless of last night's vote.

    Having a mandate doesn't mean to say you are going to be right.

    "Bombing has to be based around troops on the ground, that's the weakness in the prime minister's argument. The idea that there are 70,000 democratically-minded rebels all ready to attack IS is complete nonsense. Even the Pentagon is rubbishing that."

    Asked whether he supported calls for deselection that some Labour MPs are reportedly facing after their votes last night, Mr Livingstone said:

    "I support the right of Labour MPs who voted with the Tories to do so if that's what they believe. They can't then deny their own party members the right to vote for someone they agree with."

  6. Watch: Burnham says social media 'poisoning politics'

    Shadow home secretary responds to Labour bullying reports

    BBC News Channel

    Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham calls for a social media code of conduct

  7. Minister: MPs must be able to express views in 'free and unfettered way'

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Responding to Chris Bryant's call, Commons Leader Chris Grayling said:

    Commons Leader Chris Grayling

    We are all subject to legitimate public scrutiny. But it will never be acceptable for members’ personal safety to be in jeopardy. It will never be acceptable for members to be the victims of activities that a court would judge illegal.”

    Mr Grayling said he could not discuss MPs’ security arrangements but assured the House “it is and will be continuing as a priority for the Commons, a priority for the House authorities”.

    We need to do everything we possibly can to protect the rights of members to express their views in a free and unfettered way and protect them when they do so."

  8. Abuse of MPs over Syria vote 'beyond the pale'

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Labour has called on the leader of the Commons to review the security arrangements for MPs' homes and offices, following abuse received by many members over the Syria vote.

    Chris Bryant, the shadow Commons leader, said some of the abuse "has been beyond the pale". He said some MPs had seen their homes surrounded and offices barricaded, with others receiving photos of dead babies and of severed heads through their front door.

    MPs expected a "degree of hurly burly" in political life, he said, but it was "a fundamental principle that all members are sent not as delegates, but as representatives, with the full power to exercise their judgement and conscience and to speak and vote without fear or favour".

    "No MP should ever be intimidated," he added.

    Calling for security arrangements to be reviewed by the leader of the Commons, Mr Bryant said:

    Chris Bryant

    It's not just about members, it's also about their families and their staff. In particular, can he look at whether the responsibility for funding these matters should now be taken away from Ipsa and restored to the House authorities."

  9. Send us your comments

    Email:haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

    Ian Shumsky emails: I do not believe that British involvement in bombing Daesh in Syria will make the UK safer, nor that it will improve an incredibly complex and deteriorating humanitarian crisis. I do believe, however, that we all must make a stand against the tyranny of this group. There is no negotiation to be had with them; their stated goal is to convert everyone to their interpretation of Islam. While they remain free to pursue this agenda no one can be safe.  

    Robert Park emails: This has to be the worst decision that Cameron's parliament has made. They have spoken out against Blair, now they are doing the same thing, they have no UN mandate for these air strikes.

    Andrew Campbell emails: I think it's absolutely disgraceful that Cameron's government has led the British into warfare. No plan whatsoever, I fear that this will have severe consequences from the Daesh.

    T Garwell emails: I totally agree on air strikes against ISIS.  They are evil and are using their religion as an excuse to murder. The world must show that these thugs and others like them will not be tolerated.

  10. McDonnell condemns abuse of Labour MPs

    John McDonnell also condemned the abuse directed at Labour MPs who had backed military action in Syria.

    "We have said if they are Labour Party members we have disciplinary processes and they will take place. We cannot have intimidation in our party," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

    Some Labour MPs claim to have been sent pictures of dead babies by anti-war protesters and others have been branded warmongers and "red Tories".

  11. McDonnell: 'Greatest oratory can lead to greatest mistakes'

    The Commons speech by shadow defence secretary Hilary Benn, making the case for air strikes in Syria, was like Tony Blair's 2003 Iraq war speech, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

    He added: "The greatest oratory can lead us to the greatest mistakes".  

    He also dismissed the 66 Labour MPs who voted with the government as a "small minority" and said Mr Corbyn had the backing of the majority of Labour members, the party's national executive and the shadow cabinet.

    John McDonnellReuters

  12. The planes and weapons fighting IS

    Although the UK's air strikes against IS targets in Syria have just begun, the RAF has been bombing similar targets in Iraq since September 2014, as part of the US-led coalition.

    Here's a look at some of the aircraft and weaponry that has been used in the fight against IS militants. 

    Tornado fighterPA

  13. UK action 'too late and meaningless'

    More on some Syrian reaction to the UK's launch of air strikes against IS targets in the country.

    Sharif Shehadeh, Syrian MP and supporter of President Assad said: "If the goal is to destroy Daesh [Islamic State], they have left it too late. 

    "The world should support what Russia is doing in Syria and the work of the Syrian army. The British intervention is too late and meaningless."  

  14. Hilary Benn: 'We pray for their safe return'

    Watch shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn respond following the first RAF air strikes in Syria, hours after MPs voted to support the action against Islamic State militants.

  15. Civilians 'can be at risk'

    Chris Woods is an investigative journalist who runs a non-profit group called Air Wars, which tracks coalition air strikes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria.

    He discusses the chances of civilians being killed when targets, such as the Omar oil fields, are hit from the air. 

    "Unfortunately civilians do get killed in these strikes at these oil facilities. We've had nightwatchmen reported killed in previous similar strikes and on one particularly bad occasion, a family, a shepherd family that unfortunately got caught up in a strike."  

  16. Hilary Benn: Our thoughts are with the RAF today

    Approached by the media on his way to the House of Commons on Thursday morning, Labour's shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn had this to say about last night's vote on Syria:

    Hilary Benn

    Now that the House of Commons has made its decision, having heard all of the arguments, all of our thoughts today are with the brave men and women of the Royal Air Force and we pray for their safe return."

    When asked about his memorable speech during the Commons debate, he simply said: "I'm off to work."

  17. Syrians react to British bombing campaign

    A number of Syrians have been giving their reaction to the decision by the UK Parliament to launch air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.  

  18. Send us your comments

    Email: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

    Annie Loveday emails: I could not be more disgusted or ashamed of our government's decision to carry out air strikes in Syria. Nothing will be achieved except an escalation in hate and violence. The future seems very bleak for our children.

    Alan Bush emails: Those who consider ISIS a virulent threat to mankind - myself included - may not ultimately win against the ideal that is ISIS, but that should not for one moment deter us from opposing that idealistic perversion with all the force that we can collectively muster.  

  19. Jeremy Corbyn video - but no comment

    BBC News assistant political editor tweets...

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  20. Burnham: 'The hardest thing you do in Parliament'

    Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham told Victoria Derbyshire some MPs will be feeling "pretty down" after the Commons vote to carry out air strikes in Syria.

    The Labour MP - who voted against the move, but previously voted in favour of invading Iraq in 2003 - described such decisions as "the hardest thing you do in Parliament". 

    He added: "People agonise about it, and then they go over it and over it in the days after the vote. Nobody takes any relish in doing what's been done."

    Andy Burnham