RAF jets have carried out their second air strike in Syria, targeting another Islamic State-controlled oil field, in a mission defence minister Michael Fallon said was an “impressive achievement”.
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“There are plenty more of these targets throughout eastern, northern Syria which we hope to be striking in the next few days and weeks”, Sky News quoted Fallon as saying.
A military source said: “We are going after the head of the snake but it’s also about going after its wallet”.
President Barack Obama welcomed the U.K.’s recent vote to authorize airstrikes in Syria, during a phone call with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday.
In a statement Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said the British Parliament’s approval of the airstrikes and the coming German vote were a sign that Europeans would stand together after the Islamic State attacks, which killed 130 people and left hundreds wounded in Paris.
Akrotiri has ramped up operations since a US-led coalition began air strikes in September 2014.
After a heated 10-hour Commons debate on Wednesday night, MPs overwhelmingly backed United Kingdom military intervention by 397 votes to 223. But several dozen Labour legislators are expected to support the airstrikes.
“They might bomb and they might carry out air strikes, but it won’t win the fight against terrorism”.
The number of fighter jets based at Akrotiri has been bolstered ahead of further sorties in Syria and continued raids in Iraq against IS, which is also known as Isis, Isil and Daesh.
Tornados took off from a British air base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, shortly after the vote. He added that Britain was sending eight more warplanes to Cyprus to join the missions. “We must not use past mistakes as an excuse for indifference or inaction”.
“It is important symbolically, useful operationally, but not transformative”.
Washington praised Britain’s increased involvement in the air campaign. Officials said last month that Russian Federation and Iran finalized the contract for their delivery.
The decision to extend 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 parliament.
The last major attack on British soil was the July 7, 2005 bombings in which 52 people died.
Officials say seven plots have been foiled by intelligence services in the past year alone. It must be treated with the utmost seriousness and respect given to those who make a different judgment about the right course of action to take. “And what I’ve said is we’re going to continually modify and adjust our strategy based on those things that work and those things that may not work”.
The Assad government’s complaint was the same as it is with the U.S. and the rest of its coalition, that they are conducting airstrikes on Syrian territory without permission from the Syrian government and without any attempt to coordinate with them.
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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. 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.
