Britain’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that RAF Tornado jets carried out their first air strikes against ISIS (also known as the Islamic State) overnight.
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“In full coordination with the government of Iraq, we’re deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL”, Carter said before the House Armed Services Committee, using another name for ISIS.
Earlier, a Ministry of Defense spokesman told the AP that four Royal Air Force Tornados operating from a British air base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, participated in the attack.
No more details were immediately available.
Britain’s House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly to launch airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, bolstering the U.S.-led campaign against the group.
The heated argument about whether the United Kingdom should begin air strikes on Islamic State territory in Syria – reinvigorated since the Paris attacks on November 13 – saw Prime Minister David Cameron label opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn a “terrorist sympathizer”, and pacifist demonstrators label Cameron a “soon-to-be war criminal”.
Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who is at odds with his leader over the course of action, was cheered and applauded by MPs from across the house in a dramatic finale to the 10-and-a-half hour debate after he directed his speech to Labour MPs telling them his party had always been defined by its internationalism.
Loud boos erupted from the crowd which had gathered outside parliament to hear the outcome of the vote. Isil have brutally murdered British hostages, they have inspired the worst terrorist attack against British people since 7/7 on the beaches of Tunisia, and they have plotted atrocity after atrocity on the streets here at home.
The vote was much more strongly in favor of the airstrikes than most had expected, as the opposition Labour Party was said to have strongly opposed the vote, but 67 MPs ultimately switched sides.
“These terrorists are plotting to kill us and radicalize our children right now”, he said.
The party leader, who took office in September, let his party have a free vote on the issue because dozens of MPs, including his foreign and defence spokespeople, supported it.
A total of 397 MPs voted in favour of the air strikes, while 223 voted against.
Britain already conducts airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq, and in August launched a drone strike that killed two British IS militants in Syria.
The vote left Labour bitterly divided with MPs supporting the Government claiming they faced an intense campaign of bullying and threats of recriminations.
Critics of the Government’s plan challenged claims that 70,000 moderate fighters would be able to take on IS.
It’s also planning to commit up to 1,200 soldiers to support the worldwide coalition fighting the Islamic State group. “It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria and that is why I ask my colleagues to vote for this motion tonight”.
Labour shadow cabinet member Diane Abbott said a majority of MPs had backed Mr Corbyn.
Cameron responded: “I couldn’t be clearer in my opening remarks: I respect people who disagree… and I respect we are all discussing here how to fight terrorism, not whether to fight terrorism”.
USA president Barack Obama welcomed the vote, describing IS as “a global threat that must be defeated by a global response”.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron held a private meeting late Tuesday evening and urged his Conservative Party to vote for the airstrikes.
