On Wednesday 2 December, the House of Commons voted to authorise British air strikes against Isis militants in Syria.
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The Defence Secretary indicated that military action against IS – also known as Isil, Isis and Daesh – can be expected to continue for years, rather than months, telling BBC1’s Breakfast: “This is not going to be quick”.
“So the political process and the action against Daesh (IS) to keep us safe at home go hand in hand”.
British bombers made their first strikes on the Islamic State group in Syria yesterday, hitting oil fields that British Prime Minister David Cameron said are being used to fund attacks on the West.
The RAF has been carrying out operations against IS in Iraq since past year. An impromptu Economist poll published Thursday shows that of those surveyed, 47 percent are against the air strikes, 42percent are in favor and 11 percent are undecided.
Putin also accused Washington and its allies of turning Iraq, Syria and Libya into a “zone of chaos and anarchy threatening the entire world” by supporting change of regimes in those countries.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, RAF Tornados – supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, an unmanned Reaper drone and other coalition aircraft – “successfully” attacked six targets, including an IS-controlled oilfield, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
Just hours after military action was approved, four British Tornado jets took off from their base in Cyprus to attack Islamic State targets in Syria.
A second pair of Tornados patrolled over western Iraq, where they provided close air support to Iraqi forces engaged in combat with Daesh in and around Ramadi and killed a sniper team.
The decision to extend the bombing to Syria divided the opposition Labour Party, opposed by its leader Jeremy Corbyn, but supported by its foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn in a passionate speech.
In the end, 66 of Labour’s 231 MPs voted in favour, including 11 members of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
Mr Fallon was speaking during a visit to RAF Akrotiri, where he thanked military personnel for their commitment to tackling the terrorist threat in Syria and Iraq. It had inspired the worst terrorist attack against British people since 7 July 2005 on the beaches of Tunisia and plotted atrocities on the streets of Britain, he said.
“We know who in Turkey are filling their pockets and allow terrorists to earn money by selling oil stolen from Syria”, he said in his annual state of the nation address.
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Fallon said that Britain is a “serious ally, that we’ve come to the aid of France, who requested us to help”.
