Prime Minister David Cameron said late Wednesday that he wanted the British Parliament to approve joining international airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in Iraq after Baghdad requested London’s help.
Cameron announced the move in his address to the U.N. General Assembly.
In doing so, Cameron also recalled parliament to secure its approval for military action.
Parliament, which was in recess, will reconvene on Friday to vote on allowing Britain’s Royal Air Force to hit ISIS targets in northern Iraq. The action has the backing of all three main parties and is expected to comfortably pass.
Cameron spoke after U.S. planes pounded ISIS positions in Syria for a second day. But the strikes did not halt the fighters’ advance in a Kurdish area where fleeing refugees told of villages burnt and captives beheaded, Reuters reported.