News Wrap: UK will join airstrikes on Islamic State in Iraq, not Syria

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Five days of U.S. and Arab airstrikes in Syria have done serious damage to Islamic State forces, that word today from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey. He said the militant's command-and-control and logistics are now disrupted. Dempsey also said, with enough manpower, Western-backed rebels in Syria could finish off Islamic State, or ISIL.

  GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: There has to be a ground component to the campaign against ISIL in Syria, and we believe that the path to develop that is the Syrian moderate opposition; 5,000 has never been the end state. There's — we have had estimates anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 is what we believe they would need to recapture lost territory in Eastern Syria.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Meanwhile, Islamic State forces were able to press their offensive to seize the town of Kobani, near the Syrian/Turkish border. Kurdish fighters have been struggling to hold that area.

• GWEN IFILL:

  The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State forces won new support today. The British House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to join the air campaign in Iraq, but not in Syria.

  We get a report from Gary Gibbon of Independent Television News.

• GARY GIBBON:

  The RAF is now expected to join the attacks over the weekend, but only on targets inside Iraq.

  David Cameron told M.P.s the Islamic State forces were a threat Britain could not ignore.

• DAVID CAMERON, Prime Minister, United Kingdom:

  Left unchecked, we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO member with a declared and proven determination to attack our country and our people. This is not the stuff of fantasy. It is happening in front of us, and we need to face up to it.

• ED MILIBAND, Leader, Labour Party:

  This is multilateral action prompted by a legitimate democratic state. And a world order governed by rules, if it is about anything, must be about protecting a democratic state, which is what this motion before us is about. I believe, although this is difficult, it is the right thing to do.

• GARY GIBBON:

  After negotiations with the coalition behind the scenes, the Labor leader, Ed Miliband, brought the vast bulk of his party on side. But a vocal minority of M.P.s challenged the prime minister that, even this limited action proposed today, he was at risk of repeating the mistakes of the past.

  DAVID WINNICK, Member of Parliament, Labour Party: ISIS indeed are made up of murderous psychopaths. That's not the issue. We know that. Iraq, Afghanistan and this government Libya, none are success stories. Are we going to embark on action that could last for years?

• DAVID CAMERON:

  The fact is this is about psychopathic terrorists that are trying to kill us, and we do have to realize that whether we like it or not, they have already declared war on us. There isn't a walk-on-by option. There isn't an option of just hoping this will go away.

• GARY GIBBON:

  Six RAF Tornado jets based in Cyprus are expected to be involved in a short burst of attacks in Iraq potentially followed by more in the weeks to come — U.S. jets yesterday heading for Syria and Iraq.

  Labor and the coalition agree with the U.S. that combat troops should not be deployed. Ed Miliband, though, said he worried that while the Iraq army would try to occupy the vacuum left after attacks on Islamic State forces in Iraq, in Syria, no one knew who would benefit.

• ED MILIBAND:

  And in the case of Iraq, it is the Iraq army and the Kurds who can conduct those operations. There's — I put it no higher than this — there is an outstanding question about who will perform that function in Syria.

• GARY GIBBON:

  One minister said that, over time, the British public would be won over to the idea of attacking Syrian targets. The truth is no one truly knows what military efforts will be needed, how much time it will take to defeat this very unconventional enemy.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Belgium and Denmark also approved contributions to the airstrikes in Iraq. Belgium will send six fighter jets, the Danes seven.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The State Department is telling Americans to leave Yemen amid fears of all-out civil war. The announcement today also says the U.S. diplomatic staff in the country will be reduced. Shiite rebels have been battling Sunni militias for control of the capital. The pro-American government is caught in between.

• GWEN IFILL:

  In Afghanistan, security officials warned that hundreds of Taliban fighters are close to capturing a key district and could use it as a base to attack Kabul. Scores of people have died in the fighting in part of Ghazni province. That's just 60 miles from the capital city. Police say the militants have beheaded at least a dozen people.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The Russian government moved today to take over another major oil company. A court in Moscow approved seizing the majority interest owned by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov. He has been under house arrest for 10 days, accused of acquiring the company illegally. The case echoes the seizure of the giant Yukos oil firm a decade ago.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Flights in and out of Chicago's two airports were stopped for nearly five hours today because of a fire. The resulting delays and cancellations rippled across the nation's midsection. The blaze broke out at an air traffic control center in the suburbs of Chicago. Police say it was set by a worker who then stabbed himself.

• GREG THOMAS, Chief, Aurora Police Department:

  We located a male suffering from non-gun-related self-inflected wounds. We evacuated about 15 to 30 people from the building, extinguished the fire. There was no explosion. But we are being cautious and that's why you're seeing a lot of equipment come in.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Authorities have ruled out terrorism as a factor in the fire.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  About 70 percent of the migrants caught at the Mexican border this summer have now vanished into the U.S. According to the Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged as much in a private meeting this week. The migrants were released, and told to report to federal immigration agents within 15 days. As many as 41,000 never did.

• GWEN IFILL:

  In economic news, growth hit an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the spring, the best in more than two years. That news helped Wall Street bounce back today. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 167 points to close at 17,113; the Nasdaq rose 45 points to close at 4,512; and the S&P 500 added almost 17 points, to finish near 1,983. But, for the week, the Dow lost 1 percent. The Nasdaq and S&P were down about 1.5 percent.