Four air strikes near Baiji hit tactical units, and also destroyed six buildings, three vehicles, an anti-aircraft weapon and another structure belonging to Islamic State militants, it said.
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Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter jets carried out a bombing mission against mobile targets in Syria on Monday and Andrews said the mission was a complete success.
“Two of our Hornets identified the personnel carrier, which was hidden in a Daesh compound”, he said.
“We’re obviously hoping to make Syria safer and to stop the persecution of millions of people there as ISIS advances”, Australia’s Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told ABC TV Wednesday. “Upon receiving authorisation to proceed, one of the Hornets employed a precision-guided weapon to destroy the target”.
Mr Andrews said Australian fighter jets were never in any risk of enemy fire during the operation, and that strict controls were in place to limit civilian casualties.
“This was done from a distance or a height that preserved the safety of Australian aircraft”, Mr Andrews said.
When a reporter asked Andrews why the airstrike hadn’t been publicized, the defense minister noted that Australia doesn’t have a policy of announcing daily events.
Bahrain, Canada, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE and the United States were the other counties noted as taking part.
In another major development, Australia will withdraw more than 100 troops from Iraq in what the government describes as reshaping the scope of the mission to advise and assist the Iraqi army.
Last week, Australia agreed to expand into Syria the air strikes it has been undertaking in Iraq against IS, also known as Daesh, in response to a formal request from Washington.
The report highlighted how British, Australian and Belgian leaders continue to ponder if they should expand the ongoing air strikes.
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Mr Andrews used the defence update to again reaffirm Australia’s commitment to “disrupt, degrade and ultimately defeat Daesh”.
