Harriet Lamb, CEO of International Alert, one of the world's largest peacebuilding organisations reacts to the UK parliament's vote on airstrikes in Syria against the so-called Islamic State.
Lamb said: "The Paris attacks, abhorrent as they were, have reduced the debate on the conflict in Syria to one of “to bomb or not to bomb”. Bombing would be a knee-jerk reaction driven by the belief that only military intervention can satisfy the public’s need for action but there are more effective actions that can be taken instead.
"It is wrong and dangerous to think an ideology can be defeated by airstrikes. Islamic State-held territory is not populated solely by radicalised jihadists — they are also in Paris, Brussels and London.
"Airstrikes are dangerous and will backfire. Airstrikes will further traumatise an already broken population. Seeing family members and friends killed by a faceless enemy, to whom Isis are free to give whichever ‘face’ suits them, will no doubt result in more foot soldiers in Isis’ battle against the west.
"Airstrikes will create more refugees, pressing into fragile neighbouring states in a region that already cannot cope. And airstrikes and their bloody aftermath will generate fodder for the Isis propaganda machine, both in Syria, and in our own societies. All these risks in addition to the fact that we don’t know what comes next to fill the space left by Isis if we do succeed.
"What is needed is a long-term, incremental strategy to restore stability and peace to Syria, building on initiatives taken by local people. This will take time but further bombing is unlikely to change that and is likely to make things worse."
About Harriet Lamb
Harriet Lamb became CEO of International Alert in November 2015 having previously been CEO of Fairtrade International (FLO) and Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. Twitter: @harrietlamb_