Syrian Govt, Rebels Both Slam British Airstrikes

Cameron Urges Patience for Long Air War

Having secured parliamentary permission for an air war in Syria, British Prime Minister wasted no time deploying warplanes, and within hours the first British bombs were falling on Raqqa. Cameron downplayed the chances of making gains soon, urging patience for a long, “complex” war.

Cameron got the air war he wanted, but he seems to be one of very few people happy about it, with both the Syrian government and anti-ISIS rebels, the same rebels Cameron was predicting would support him in ridiculously large numbers, were loudly criticizing the new strikes.

The Assad government’s complaint was the same as it is with the US and the rest of its coalition, that they are conducting airstrikes on Syrian territory without permission from the Syrian government and without any attempt to coordinate with them.

The rebels, by contrast, are complaining about it on humanitarian grounds, noting everyone else was already bombing Raqqa and not accomplishing anything by doing so, and warning they were just putting the city’s civilian population in even further peril.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.