British forces now have 16 warplanes in the air base at Cyprus, which is made up of 10 Tornados and six Typhoons, with eight of the jets joining today. Cameron refused to do so, saying, “I respect people who come to a different view from the government”.
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Four Tornados took off from the Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, shortly after the House of Commons vote gave the go-ahead for Britain to assist in the US-led bombing of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“Last night saw the full force of the RAF”, he told the Press Association.
Asked if the military were asked to target areas with a low risk of civilian casualties to appease public dissent in the UK, Mr Fallon said: “Nobody likes strikes, nobody likes warfare, but when you’re dealing with people who are not negotiating with you but simply want to kill as many Westerners or Brits as possible then you have to use force”.
MPs voted by 397 to 223, a majority of 174, after the marathon ten hour debate in the Commons on Wednesday in favour of extending British action against IS into its Syrian strongholds.
The strikes targeted the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria, which is under ISIS control, United Kingdom defence secretary Michael Fallon said.
RAF jets carried out a second set of “successful” airstrikes on Syrian oil fields on Friday night, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A statement from the MoD said: “The Tornados and Typhoons used Paveway IV guided bombs to hit wellheads, thus cutting off the terrorists’ oil revenue at the very source”.
The operation has so far failed to dislodge the militants from a swath of territory where they have proclaimed a caliphate to rule over all Muslims, although Washington and its allies say the attacks have helped to halt the fighters’ advance.
Defence secretary Michael Fallon says the strikes on oil wells in eastern Syria have already dealt a “real blow” to the financing of the terror group.
The US, he said, would welcome a constructive Russian contribution to its 65 member nation counter-ISIL coalition.
At the same time, an unmanned but armed RAF Reaper drone destroyed an IS truck bomb in northern Iraq.
He said: “We’ve now got more Tornados and more Typhoons in Cyprus ready to take action both over the skies of Iraq and over the skies of Syria because we have to defeat Daesh wherever it is”.
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He added: “But there is now a political process alongside the military operation which will lead to, we hope, a new settlement in Syria, a new type of government that will eventually be able to put its own forces into the fight against ISIL/Daesh as the civil war ends”.
