SNP members have voted to oppose any UK military action in Syria.

In a topical resolution at the conference, delegates unanimously backed the resolution opposing the action, and warning further airstrikes would be “militarily irrelevant and cause further human suffering in Syria.” Proposing the motion, the party’s foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond said what was happening in Syria was one of “the largest humanitarian crises in history.”

“If you want to understand the violence that’s happening in this place then you only need to look at the military line-up in Syria at the present moment. There’s the United States of America who are bombing Daesh but also not supporting and [wanting] to see the back of President Assad. We have Russia who say they’re bombing Daesh but also are targeting the rebels.

“We have Turkey who say they’re bombing Daesh but are also targeting the Kurdish forces. We have the Australians, the Canadians, the Saudi Arabians, and others supporting the United States of America. We have the French who have their own military operations. We have Iranian-backed militias who are opposing Daesh in Iraq and supporting Assad in Syria. There is nobody in Syria who is not being bombed by somebody. That is why there are six and a half million people being displaced.”

Adding to the air strikes, Salmond said, would have no military consequences but would “add to human suffering.” He said David Cameron was still smarting at losing the Commons vote on military action in Syria two years ago.

Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish Government’s external affairs minister said UK military action would be fraught with difficulties. “Piling in is the easy option,” she said. “Banging the drum to be seen to be decisive. The UK has been seduced by [this] spiral to catastrophe far too often. We must take the hard road, the slow road, the road with the UN and initiatives must be the way forward. The poison has to be drained.”

Delegate Rhuaraidh Fleming told the conference that the Tory government were, “hell-bent on carrying out air strikes in Syria.”

The motion was unanimously passed.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, the party’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson said UK military action in Syria could add to pressure for a second referendum.

Robertson told the Evening Standard: “It’s entirely possible that we could find ourselves within this next year involved in yet another war, beginning the process of leaving the European Union, committing to spend £100 million on the renewal of [Trident] ... which is a gargantuan waste of money for something that we can never use.

“These are all massive political issues. I don’t think there is any automaticity about an independence referendum, but we look at all of these particular issues with great concern.”