But Mr Hammond said air strikes would have the immediate effect of “degrading Isil’s ability to plan and execute external attacks, so just starting those air strikes – even before we get anywhere near a ground assault on Raqqa – will improve the safety of Britain, of France, of Europe and of British and French people and others, wherever they are in the world”.
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Residents of Akrotiri village which is across the runway of the RAF base of the same name at a jetting peninsula on the southern shores of Cyprus said they saw four Tornado planes taking off in pairs shortly before sunrise.
Memories of involvement in recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and particularly Iraq make military action a controversial topic in the United Kingdom where opinion polls suggest the public is split down the middle over strikes in Syria.
Miliband, who led Labour in supporting strikes against ISIS in Iraq previous year, made clear his position in a statement to his Constituency Labour Party today.
Before the attacks, pilots used the aircrafts’ sensors to confirm “no civilians were in the proximity of the targets”, it stated.
“That strikes a very real blow at the oil and the revenue on which the Daesh terrorists depend”, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC, using an Arabic acronym for the group.
INSKEEP: Let me ask how involved Britain really is going to be.
A senior Government source said targets would be taken out “as and when they present themselves”.
“This is not going to be quick, ” he said.
“The vote, after months of wrangling, hand-wringing and a daylong parliamentary debate, underscored the concerted efforts of Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservative Party has a majority in Parliament, to restore Britain’s reputation as a serious global actor”.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accuses Cameron of leading a rush to war, and has appealed to Labour lawmakers who favour military action to think again.
Attacking IS’s oil facilities would deprive them of financing and undermine their operations in north-east Syria, “from where these threats to western Europe, these plots, are all being hatched and devised”, he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama praised the move of Britain and claimed that the coalition would surely work “to integrate them into our coalition air tasking orders as quickly as possible”.
The airstrikes indicated European unity against the extremist group after the deadly Paris attacks on November 13.
Carter also commended Germany for its support of the coalition.
A DECISION to allow air strikes in Syria has been approved in a debate which has divided political parties and the region’s MPs.
The bombing raid was confirmed this morning by the British Defence Secretary, The Rt Hon.
The government said Thursday that it had already hit key functions at the oilfield.
Drone-cam captures the moment a British military drone takes out an ISIS stronghold.
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A poll conducted by online research firm YouGov showed that British citizens’ support for military action in Syria has fallen to the lowest level since September 2014, with 48 percent of respondents supporting strikes on Tuesday, compared to 59 percent last week.
