Air strikes took place within hours of the decision, involving two pairs of RAF Tornadoes launched from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
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They also carried out a dozen air strikes against Islamic State tactical units in two other Syrian cities on an unusual day when strikes in Syria exceeded those in Iraq. A truck bomb identified south of Sinjar, which was recently liberated from IS by Peshmerga forces, was destroyed by a direct hit by a Hellfire missile fired from a Reaper drone.
“Last night we saw the Typhoons in action for the first time, successfully hitting an oilfield, oil well-heads in eastern Syria out in the Omar field”, British defence minister Michael Fallon told Sky News while on a visit to the Akrotiri base.
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.
The Typhoons have left RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, to join the air strikes.
In total eight air strikes were carried out, and reports suggest that they were all successful.
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Earlier RAF Tornado fighter jets flew an armed patrol over the east of the country “gathering intelligence on terrorist activity”, the Ministry of Defence said.
