“During the evening of Friday, December 4, Tornado GR4s and Typhoon FGR4s based at RAF Akrotiri conducted a further series of strikes on targets in the very large Daesh-controlled oilfield at Omar in eastern Syria”, a spokesman said on Saturday. Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said Isis derives “a huge part of its revenue” from sales.
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“A terrorist sniper team opened fire from a compound on Iraqi troops, but was silenced by a direct hit from a Paveway IV guided bomb”, a statement said.
He says the fight against IS will not be “either short or simple”. “This is not going to be quick but it wasn’t right to simply leave it to other air forces”.
Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon stands next to an Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet as he speaks to Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots and ground crew members at the RAF Akrotiri airbase, Cyprus.
A vote in the House of Commons following a ten-hour debate on Wednesday evening resulted in a vote of 397 to 223 in favour of Britain bombing targets in Syria.
Eight attacks were carried out, and early reports suggest that they were successful, an MoD statement added.
“They’ve been making a lot of money out of oil”, said Fallon.
“There’s been nothing dramatic in the missions or targets so far, backing up David Cameron’s warning that Britain’s involvement in the battle against IS in Syria will require patience and persistence”, he said.
BBC World Service Middle East editor Sebastian Usher said the first two missions in Syria had targeted infrastructure, rather than moving targets.
“Last night saw the full force of the RAF”.
There had been signs Paris might moderate its position as its priority shifted to tackling Islamic State, which carried out the Paris attacks last month in which 130 people were killed.
The Free Syrian Army opposition group has claimed British intervention is “just a few more jets” over the course of a long campaign.
But despite strong support for the air strikes among MPs, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called the campaign an “ill-thought-out rush to war”.
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“A second pair of GR4s patrolled over western Iraq, where they provided close air support to Iraqi forces engaged in combat with Daesh in and around Ramadi”.
