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Hollande Urges UK's MPs To Back Syria Strikes

Hollande Urges UK's MPs To Back Syria Strikes

French President Francois Hollande has urged MPs to back David Cameron's plan for airstrikes against IS in Syria.

Mr Hollande said: "I hope the House of Commons can respond to the demands made by the leader, Prime Minister David Cameron."

The Prime Minister wants the RAF to expand strikes against Islamic State from Iraq to Syria - the heartland of the terror group.

Mr Cameron pressed his "compelling" case in the Commons on Thursday, saying the strikes would make Britain a safer place and urged MPs to "do the right thing".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says the Prime Minister's case for attacks is unconvincing and wrote to his MPs to say he does not support the plan.

He now faces a shadow cabinet revolt, with many of his MPs shocked at his position and some accusing him of a "failure of leadership".

Sky's Senior Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said only four members of the shadow cabinet explicitly backed Mr Corbyn's stance at a meeting on Thursday, while 15 spoke out against it.

The Prime Minister has said he will not go ahead with a vote in the Commons until he is certain of victory. The Government were humiliated after a previous vote on strikes in Syria, which were aimed at deterring the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, was rejected in 2013.

Sky News understands that Downing Street will now approach Labour MPs for briefings over the weekend to try to shore up support.

France has stepped up its own strikes in the country after IS terrorists killed 130 people in Paris two weeks ago - an atrocity Mr Hollande called an "act of war".

The French President has met the leaders of Russia, the US, Germany and Britain this week as he tries to form an international alliance to crush Islamic State.

His call to British MPs came at a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Malta, and hours after he attended a memorial in Paris where each victim of the Paris attacks had their read aloud.

As the wranglings over strikes continues in Westminster, an open letter from Syrians in the UK said strikes alone were not the answer.

Syrian Solidarity UK said "simply bombing ISIL will not defeat them. If anything it will make them stronger".

"The only way to defeat ISIL is by stopping the Assad regime's indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, including areas controlled by moderate rebel groups," the group said.

"Once this happens, Syrians will be freed up to drive out ISIL themselves, as they have proved themselves capable of doing."