The Tornados are a small but significant addition to the coalition strike force in Syria and eight more aircraft are heading there from the UK.
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After a mammoth 10-hour debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, MPs took a vote on whether to go ahead with air strikes in Syria against so-called Islamic State (IS) – the majority voting in favour of the motion, 397 for versus 223 against. Both France and the USA urged Britain to join the air campaign in Syria, and Cameron said Britain shouldn’t let its allies down.
The British Ministry of Defence said on its Twitter feed that British jets had hit al-Omar oil fields as part of the campaign against IS.
RAF warplanes have taken out an Islamic State sniper nest during missions over Iraq and Syria.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond echoed Cameron’s sympathies, telling CNN, “This is the right thing to do to keep Britain safe, to deal with this evil organization and as part of a process to bring peace and stability to Syria”.
A statement on the MoD website said two Tornado GR-4 jets flew an armed reconnaissance patrol over eastern Syria overnight, “gathering intelligence on terrorist activity”.
British-born jihadis who have travelled to Syria to join the extremist group have been tasked with returning home to carry out a Paris-style terror attack within weeks, the Daily Mail reported on Friday.
Asked if the air strikes would continue for as long as four years, Mr Hammond said: “I hope it won’t be four years, but I caution that it isn’t going to be months”.
Syrian state media outlets claim the British parliament’s decision to extend airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) from Iraq into Syria is in contravention of global law. Cameron has said he wouldn’t seek Parliament’s backing unless he was confident of getting it.
Giving further details of the bombing raid, Mr Fallon told the BBC that, the bombing raid had targeted the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria, that are held under the control of Daesh.
Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against airstrikes before the vote.
Despite Corbyn’s protests, the vote is over. He added: “Isis are devils and we should attack them and this attack is a positive step, but what is important is the strategy of these attacks”.
A wide range of MPs including main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke out against air strikes, condemning Cameron’s “ill thought-out rush to war” and saying his proposals “simply do not stack up”.
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Critics claim British airstrikes will make little practical difference, and that ground forces will be needed to root out IS.
