British Defence Minister, Michael Fallon, talks to British pilots and soldiers at RAF Akrotiri, a British air base near the coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015.
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Daesh terrorists have again been struck by British Royal Air Force aircraft, with Typhoon fighters jets used for the first time in bombing missions over Syria and Iraq, according to British Ministry of Defense (MoD).
The jets took off from Britain’s base in Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, where Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has been visiting troops.
Fallon was speaking during a visit to RAF Akrotiri, where he thanked military personnel for their commitment to tackling the terrorist threat in Syria and Iraq.
Fallon told the air crews in Cyprus they should be prepared for a long campaign to counter the terrorist threat from IS.
At the same time, an unmanned Reaper drone destroyed an IS truck-bomb with a Hellfire missile south of Sinjar in Iraq.
“Early reports suggest that they were successful”, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that more than 40 IS jihadists were also wounded “in a series of around 15 strikes on IS bases by planes believed to be from the US-led coalition”.
“This campaign is not going to be short or simple”.
“It’s not what we do that they oppose, it’s what we are. It’s because of who we are in Britain and the West that we have this particular death cult”.
The UK knows it could be next on ISIL’s terror hit-list after last month’s attacks on close neighbour France.
The Wall Street Journal quoted two western officials as saying that Abdelhamid Abaaoud – who died in a shoot-out with police following the atrocities – was suspected of having connections with people in Birmingham, including several with Moroccan heritage.
He said the expansion of the strike force had been “seamless” and that their work was valued by Parliament and the people of the UK.
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The number of fighter jets based at Akrotiri has been bolstered ahead of further sorties in Syria and continued raids in Iraq against IS, which is also known as Isis, Isil and Daesh.
