The four jets took off from Akrotiri air base in Cyprus, targeting an oil field in Eastern Syria, the MOD told CNN.
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Hollande would have been greatly relieved on Wednesday when British MPs voted largely in favour of airstrikes after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons. The planes returned without these arms around three hours later.
Cameron said, “Do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands from where they are plotting to kill British people, or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?”
Antiwar demonstrators outside Parliament booed as they learned the result of the vote. “It has also made us less safe”, he said.
“It’s only when those two things come together, when the degradation of ISIL in Raqqa and the creation of a transitional Syrian government are both happening, that we can then actually utilise the forces that are now fighting each other – the Syrian government forces, the Syrian opposition forces, the Kurdish forces, and get them turned around and facing towards ISIL and able to finish off the job in Raqqa, reclaiming what will then be the territory of the new Free Syria from the evil empire of Daesh [IS]”.
After the November 13 terror attacks in Paris, France asked its allies to bump up their military offensive against ISIS.
British air strikes are unlikely to change the military balance, given the United States is already involved, but the vote handed Mr Cameron the chance to show Britain’s willingness to add to a Western consensus for taking the battle to militants in Syria.
However, it now only conducts surveillance and intelligence missions over Syria.
Mr Fallon confirmed that eight more jets – two Tornados and six Typhoons – were being sent to Akrotiri to join the attacks.
Germany’s parliament is expected to vote on Friday in favour of joining the campaign against Islamic State, although only to provide military support for air strikes, not actually to take part in them.
“It will not make a big operational difference”, said Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute, a research organization specializing in security.
Opposition forces attempting to wage a ground war with ISIS have long contested that the border between Iraq and Syria effectively does not exist, with fighters passing freely across it. Some 67 of its 231 MPs reportedly voted in favour of bombing, including 11 members of Corbyn’s team.
The rift within Labour over Syria was most eloquently expressed in the fact that, while the Labour leader opened his party’s contribution to the debate with a call to oppose the motion, shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn closed it with a speech in support of it.
Just seven Conservatives voted against military action, while 333 voted yes.
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However, critics like former Scottish National Party (SNP) Alex Salmond said the PM was “living on another planet” if he thinks there won’t be civilians killed during the Syrian strikes.
