In July, despite the fact MPs had voted against extending air strikes from Iraq to Syria, it was revealed that British pilots embedded with US-led coalition air crews, and under foreign command, had been carrying out strikes in Syria against Islamic State.
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The latest overnight raids saw the RAF Typhoons which arrived on the island on Thursday deployed for the first time on combat operations against IS – also referred to as Isis, Isil or Daesh.
RAF fighters are preparing to target the leadership of Islamic State (IS), Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said, as British war planes again hit a Syrian oil field controlled by the extremists.
Fallon was speaking during a visit to the British airbase in Cyprus.
He said the wave of raids hit IS bases to the north, east and southeast of Raqa city, which is the group’s de facto Syrian headquarters. Along with increasing airstrikes, now with the assistance of French and British aircraft, Obama says the added special-operations forces are part of an intensification of his strategy.
“That is what they always talk about: moderate groups in Syria”.
In an interview published Sunday in Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper, Assad slammed London’s decision to begin strikes in Syria as “illegal” and said its actions would cause “terrorism” to spread.
“Early reports suggest that they were successful”, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. “We face a new kind of enemy that makes no demands, takes no hostages, doesn’t want to negotiate”.
“They’ve been making a lot of money out of oil … and their revenue helps to finance their terrorism in Western Europe and is a threat to us in Britain”.
The US, France, Russia and others are already bombing IS targets in Syria, but Mr Cameron is adamant Britain can make a valuable contribution.
Following Wednesday’s divisions in Parliament, Mr Fallon said: “We ended up with a strong and very decisive vote in favour of action and I hope everybody now will rally round that action and support the RAF in their efforts to keep our country safe”. “I think we know that without the ability to find some ground forces that are prepared to take on Daesh, this will not be won completely from the air”, US Secretary of State John Kerry said at a meeting in Belgrade of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Cameron opposes Assad’s government in Syria, where the more than four-year civil war has forced millions of refugees to flee the country.
A Downing Street spokesman said that military officials did not express concerns over the 70,000 figure to the prime minister.
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But the Free Syrian Army opposition group has claimed British intervention is “just a few more jets” over the course of a long campaign.
