Great Britain joined the international forces already engaged on the ground in the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but the Country is divided between interventionists and pacifists. The debate in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon was particularly heated and it lasted ten hours and a half, signalling difficulties in making a decision. In the end, the British Parliament approved the plan presented by David Cameron with 397 votes in favour and 223 against, leaving a divided Country. Outside Westminster Palace hundreds of protesters chanted “No to the bombs.” Fact is that a few hours after the go ahead of Parliament, Britain had already launched the first airstrikes in the night on positions of groups of the Islamic State in Syria. Four Tornados took off from the air base of Akrotiri, in Cyprus, where the RAF has eight aircrafts of this kind. According to the BBC, British aircrafts hit six Isis-controlled oilfields in eastern Syria.
Also Christian Church dignitaries took part in the debate. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Primate of All England, entrusted his reflection to a press release with clear words in support of targeted and proportionate military intervention in Syria. “Effective action is necessary to stop the grave harm being inflicted by ISIS on civilians.
While indiscriminate violence is never justifiable, specific use of force to protect the vulnerable is defensible, if it is combined with sustained diplomatic and humanitarian efforts.
As Pope Francis has said: ‘where there is unjust aggression, it is licit to stop the aggressor’.” The English Catholic Church is well-informed of the situations of populations in the Middle-East, Syria and Iraq. Archbishop Nichols himself took a trip to Iraq this year, in the month of April. There, he had the opportunity of speaking with refugees and with the representatives of the local Iraqi Church that assist them. In the light of this concrete experience the Archbishop has suggested a three-stage action plan for England. The first is to stop ISIS “and that will require a proportionate military intervention”; the second “will be to make villages and towns habitable through clearing land mines and other IEDs; the third will be to re-establish the rule of law and finally to re-establish trust between the different peoples and faiths.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also took the floor yesterday at the House of Commons. Before being elected spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, Welby lived for some time in Nigeria, where he demonstrated great pastoral ability, especially in addressing conflict situations, in acting as a man of dialogue and reconciliation. Not surprisingly, his position on the participation of Great Britain to air strikes is under the banner of pacifism. Welby is concerned.
Military action in Syria is likely to work in favour of ISIS and of other jihadist groups in the region.
“If we act only against ISIL globally, and only in the ways proposed so far – said the Anglican religious leader – we will strengthen their resolve, increase their recruitment, and encourage their sympathisers. “Without a far more comprehensive approach, we confirm their dreadful belief that what they are doing is the will of God.” Thus, there is need for a “comprehensive approach” to subvert the “false narrative” of jihadism and it must include challenging Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where the “promotion of a particular brand of Islamic theology has provided a source from which ISIS have drawn a false legitimisation.”
