Denmark Joins Anti-ISIS Coalition In Iraq With F-16 Jets; UK Debates Military Action

Denmark on Friday said it will join the United States-led coalition conducting airstrikes in the country, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, British lawmakers debated whether to send fighter jets to the region.

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said her government will send seven F-16 fighter jets along with 250 pilots and support staff, to the campaign against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, in Iraq. The deployment will last 12 months, according to the AP report.

“No one should be ducking in this case. Everyone should contribute,” Thorning-Schmidt said.

The U.K. Parliament, meanwhile, was called out of recess Friday by Prime Minister David Cameron to consider possible military action in Iraq. Addressing the House of Commons, Cameron said it was the U.K.’s duty to confront the Islamic State group, according to a BBC report.

Stressing that the U.K. had unique assets to contribute, the British prime minister added that it was morally right for Britain's military to take part in the airstrikes.

“This is not 2003, but we must not use past mistakes as an excuse for indifference or inaction,” Cameron said, referring to the U.S.-led war in Iraq a decade ago. “It is about protecting people on the streets of Britain.”

U.S.-led coalition warplanes, meanwhile, continued attacks in Syria and Iraq on Friday, targeting oil refineries controlled by militants of the Islamic State group in the Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria.

Across the border in Iraq, 52 ISIS militants were killed on Friday in the northwestern town of al-Qaim after American and French warplanes hit a university compound being used as hideout, according to an Al Jazeera report.