Iraq Isis Crisis: UK Inching Closer to Joining US-led Airstrikes against Militant Targets

The UK could join the US-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Isis with Prime Minister David Cameron expected to make an announcement regarding Britain's direct military involvement in the next couple of days.

Cameron, who is in New York to participate in the UN General Assembly, is to hold bilateral talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Abadi, who is likely to place a formal request for military action.

"The prime minister will be holding talks at the United Nations in New York over the next two days on what more the UK and others can do to contribute to international efforts to tackle the threat we all face from [Isis]," Cameron's office said in a statement.

"The UK is already offering significant military support, including supplying arms to the Kurds as well as surveillance operations by a squadron of Tornadoes and other RAF aircraft."

An anonymous British diplomatic source, cited by Reuters, has said Cameron is yet undecided about taking part in the airstrikes in Syria due to legal procedures. The source added that any agreement to the launch of military action in Iraq is simply in line with the UK's principle and need not kick-start an immediate campaign.

The British prime minister may convene the parliament later this week seeking MPs' approval over partaking in the military action in Iraq in the hope that his request will not be defeated. A similar appeal last year to launch an attack against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad's regime was stonewalled by the MPs.

Ahead of his UN address and the meeting with the Iraqi premier, Cameron said in an interview with the NBC: "There are other plots they [Isis] have been attempting, including in my own country, in order to kill and maim innocent people and the same applies to the United States."

"So this is a fight you cannot opt out of. These people want to kill us. They've got us in their sights and we have to put together this coalition... to make sure that we ultimately destroy this evil organisation."