Bombing started hours after MPs gave their approval for military action, using the oil fields, which are in eastern Syria.
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British bombers made their second round of strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria late on Friday, again hitting oil fields, British defense minister Michael Fallon said on Saturday.
Dec 6 The United States and its allies conducted 17 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and 12 in Syria on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement.
Extra fighter jets have been sent to the UK’s Cyprus base, RAF Akrotiri, to launch bombing and reconnaissance missions over Syria and continue Operation Shader in Iraq, where Britain is providing support to Iraqi forces at the government’s request.
The UK government is not aware of civilian casualties after the first airstrikes in Syria against Daesh, Fallon added.
Coalition aircraft carried out six strikes in Iraq, including four against Islamic State tactical units near Ramadi, which Iraqi ground forces are working to free from militant control.
He said: “Last night (Friday) we had the Tornados in action, the Typhoons in action and our unmanned Reapers in action – all of them striking ISIL Daesh (IS) where it hurts”. “And it derives from Syria”, he said.
“It’s not what we do that they oppose, it’s what we are”.
During his trip to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, military personnel were thanked by Mr Fallon. This campaign is not going to be short or simple.
RAF Tornado fighter jets had already flown an armed patrol over the east of the country “gathering intelligence on terrorist activity”, the Ministry of Defence said.
“It is not because of what we do but who we are that we face this death cult”.
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The jets used GPS- and laser-guided Paveway IV bombs to hit the wellheads, in an attempt to cut IS’s oil supply and its revenue from oil sales.
