Danger is imminent, we need to bomb Syria - UK defense secretary

Ahead of the vote on expanding the UK’s air operation against Islamic State to Syria, the British defense secretary said terror attacks similar to Paris and Brussels could ‘easily happen’ in London. He called for preventive airstrikes on terrorists in Syria.

In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: “The threat to the UK is extremely high. An attack is highly likely so we have to respond.”

“What happened in Paris and Brussels could easily happen in London,” Fallon said, adding that it could as well be Manchester or Glasgow.

The defense secretary urged against pulling punches against Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) terrorists.

“These aren’t people you can negotiate with. You can only deal with them by force,” he said.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is already “making a difference in Iraq,” Fallon said, adding “we need to hit ISIL harder and deal with this death cult once and for all.”

The defense secretary’s interview comes a day after “Don’t Bomb Syria” mass protests in London, where thousands of protesters took to the streets to make their voices heard in a rally organized by the Stop the War coalition.