(CNN) — After the November 13 terror attacks in Paris, France asked its allies to bump up their military offensive against ISIS. It’s time for Britain and Germany’s turn to decide if they will.
In both countries, parliamentarians will vote to approve their leaders’ requests to do so. And the measures are expected to pass.
British airstrikes
British MPs debate Wednesday on whether to expand UK airstrikes to include ISIS strongholds in Syria. After 10 and a half hours of discussion, they will vote.
Britain is already part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS from the air, but has until now limited strikes to targets in Iraq.
“This is the right thing to do to keep Britain safe, to deal with this evil organization, and as part of a process to bring peace and stability to Syria,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told CNN.
He said the military campaign will have two stages: air strikes to degrade ISIS capabilities and an eventual ground assault.
The airstrikes can begin “pretty much straight away” after the vote passes, he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who visited French President Francois Hollande after the attacks that killed 130 people, has pushed for the expansion.
Britain needs “to take action now, to help protect us against the terrorism seen on the streets of Paris and elsewhere,” he said.
Cameron, a conservative, faces some opposition from the Labour Party, which has said that there is a lack of a coherent plan to fight ISIS. But dozens of its members support the move and will not vote en bloc as a party against it. Approval is expected to pass.
German reconnaissance
German parliamentarians will also vote Wednesday on an expanded commitment, deploying high-tech intelligence jets over Syria and Northern Iraq to help other countries’s forces pinpoint targets.
The measure reportedly has overwhelming political support, with only two smaller parties objecting. The vote is widely seen as a rubber stamping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent commitment to French President Francois Hollande.
Germany is also to strengthen its training mission in Northern Iraq as part of its increased support, according to German public media news site Deutsche Welle.
Germany has not committed to airstrikes, and its post-World War II constitution hinders it in participating in battle on foreign soil.
U.S. special forces
The United States has already been pummeling the extremist group’s de facto capital of Raqqa. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Washington will send in a special targeting force to carry out raids against ISIS in Iraq.
“In full coordination with the government of Iraq, we’re deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL,” Carter said before the House Armed Services Committee.
“These special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders.”
The force is in addition to the “less than 50” Special Operations forces Obama authorized in October to aid in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
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