The British contribution forms only a tiny part of US-led “Operation Inherent Resolve”, which has been bombing Islamic State targets in both Iraq and Syria for more than a year with hundreds of aircraft.
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Within an hour of Wednesday night’s Commons vote authorising military action, the first Tornado GR4 fighter bombers were in the air heading for an IS-controlled oil field in eastern Syria.
Four RAF Tornado jets took off from the UK’s Akrotiri base in Cyprus shortly after the prime minister’s plans were overwhelmingly backed in the Commons.
In a statement Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said the British Parliament’s approval of the airstrikes and the upcoming German vote were a sign that Europeans would stand together after the IS attacks that killed 130 people and left hundreds wounded in Paris.
Britain’s participation is unlikely to alter the military balance in Syria, though its military does bring precision-guided Brimstone missiles that are considered an asset for the U.S.-led alliance.
The BBC reported that eight additional jets – “two Tornados and six Typhoons” – would join the RAF aircraft already at the base.
The vote has blown open deep divisions in the Labour Party with claims that MPs in favour of military action have faced threats of recriminations.
The U.S.is intensifying its fight against ISIS as President Obama ordered the deployment of about 200 Special Operations forces to Iraq and Syria.
Mr Cameron was said to have been impressed by Mr Benn’s speech for “impressively and clearly setting out” the case for attacks.
A total of 66 Labour MPs rejected the advice of their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and voted with the government, but only seven Tories ignored the party’s three-line whip and voted to oppose airstrikes.
If you have any questions or are feeling a little bit anxious about the MPs’ decision and what this means for the rest of the United Kingdom – we are asking a BBC defence expert to try to answer as many of your questions as possible.
“It is important symbolically, useful operationally, but not transformative”.
UPDATED 12.24pm: The UK will take to the skies over Syria to battle Islamic State.
It set a fixed calendar for a ceasefire followed by a transitional government in six months and elections one year later.
The move comes after the Parliament had initially rejected military action in Syria in a 2013.
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Initial analysis showed the strikes had been successful, the statement said. MP HILARY BENN: We are here faced by fascists, not just their calculated brutality, but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in this chamber tonight, and all of the people that we represent. He predicted that they would “soon be contacting those of us who support the motion tonight”, in a reference to the bullying of Labour lawmakers.
