British Parliament To Increase Bombings In Syria

British lawmakers voted by a wide margin Wednesday to join the international campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, after Prime Minister David Cameron asserted that bombing the “medieval monsters” in their heartland would make Britain safer.

The 397-223 vote in the House of Commons means Royal Air Force fighter jets — already operating against IS in Iraq from a base in Cyprus — could be flying over Syria within hours. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Channel 4 news that the strikes would begin “very quickly … probably not tonight but it could be tomorrow night.”

ABC’s Tom Rivers is in London.