Emma Reynolds: Britain must take military action in Syria

The Wolverhampton North East MP has urged the Prime Minister to call a Commons vote on the matter, and said she is in favour of 'targeted action' to degrade Assad's military capability.

It comes after dozens of people are said to have died when Syrian government aircraft dropped bombs filled with toxic chemicals on the formerly rebel-held town of Douma on Saturday.

Former shadow foreign minister Ms Reynolds also called on Britain's politicians to learn from the past, insisting that Parliament was wrong in opposing military action in Syria in 2013.

"I don't think the international community can stand by while President Assad uses chemical weapons against his own people," the Labour MP told the Express & Star.

"If we do nothing we are normalising the use of these weapons. There should be targeted military action with one clear objective: to prevent President Assad from using chemical weapons again against his own people.

"He has killed and maimed innocent civilians, including children. The scenes that we saw at the weekend were horrific."

She added: "I think there should be a parliamentary vote and indeed an urgent debate on Monday when we come back from recess."

Ms Reynolds said that while there were 'risks of escalation' by international military action, they were outweighed by the risk of doing nothing.

"Inaction would send another signal to President Assad that he could use chemical weapons against his own people with impunity," she warned.

"We can't just stand by and let that happen.

"To be clear, what I am suggesting is military action to degrade the military capability of the Assad regime.

"That means targeting chemical facilities if we know where they are, and also the means by which these weapons were distributed, such as airfields, to prevent this vfrom happening again.

This is not about bombing towns or cities. It is about targeted action."

David Cameron lost a Commons vote in August 2013 over proposed airstrikes to punish Assad’s use of chemical weapons, after the then Labour leader Miliband and Conservative rebels opposed the plan.

Ms Reynolds, who missed that vote due to family illness, said: "In hindsight I think we were wrong to vote against reacting to the use of chemical weapons.

"I think that it set a dangerous precedent, and [then US President Barack] Obama saying that it was a red line that shouldn't be crossed and then not taking action, was the wrong thing to do."

She added that the stakes were high as a result of seven years of civil war, thousands of Syrians being killed and millions of refugees displaced.

"And of course the Russians are now involved. Our objective must be to stop the proliferation of chemical weapons.

"Theresa May was very decisive in her action against Russia when they used chemical weapons on our own soil, and we must have decisive action from the Government, equally, in this case, against the use of chemical weapons."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is almost certain to oppose further action in Syria.

He has said military intervention would require UN approval, which is currently blocked by Russia and said that 'more killing' would not save lives.

President Assad has warned that threats of Western military action would only lead to further chaos.

“These voices, and any possible actions, will only contribute to further destabilisation in the region,” he said on social media.