Previously, the small British contingent participated in strikes on Iraq but not Syria.
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Britain today began bombing Islamic State strongholds in Syria targeting the oil fields under its control, hours after a crucial parliamentary vote backed military airstrikes against the terror group.
Bristol North West MP Charlotte Leslie voted for military action last night.
“This strikes a very real blow at the oil and the revenue on which the Daesh terrorists depend”, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC.
Hours later, four Royal Air Force Tornados struck targets in Syria, but no details were given. “We look forward to having British forces flying with the coalition over Syria, and will work to integrate them into our “coalition air tasking orders” as quickly as possible”, “The Guardian” reports.
The result in the House of Commons means that British planes could start bombing over Syria within hours.
But since the Paris terror attacks the following day, Britain has blasted ISIS targets in Iraq on a daily basis, with 13 air strikes in the past week alone.
The government motion was passed thanks to a split in the opposition Labour Party where politicians, including senior figures and shadow cabinet members, went against leader Jeremy Corbyn to vote for the strikes against IS to be extended to Syria.
The Labour leader argued that the government’s bombing proposal “clearly does not subordinate military action to global diplomatic efforts”.
They will be joined by six Typhoon jets, which took off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland shortly after 0800 GMT, and two more Tornado fighters, which were due to take off from RAF Marham in southeast England.
December 3, 2015: A British tornado warplane passes on the runway at the RAF Akrotiri, a British air base near costal city of Limassol, Cyprus after an airstrike.
After 15 years in which hundreds of British troops died serving as the main battlefield ally of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, many in Britain are wary of more war in the Middle East.
President Francois Hollande cited specific threats against French interests stemming from the Islamic State group in Syria. “They attack us because of who we are, not because of what we do”, he said.
“Since November past year our security services have foiled no less than seven different plots against our people”, Cameron claimed.
US Secretary of State John Kerry praised Cameron for bringing the vote to parliament Wednesday and urged all North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries to “step up support” for the fight against IS. “They have been able to attack these terrorists from one side of the border, now they’ve been able to attack some of their key targets on the other side of the border as well”, Mr. Fallon said.
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Cameron again stressed that British ground forces will not be deployed to Syria as part of the action Wednesday, saying that would be a “mistake”.
