Australian warplanes make first air strike in Syria

A U.S.-led coalition attacked Islamic State militants on Sunday with 18 air strikes in Iraq and four in Syria, the military said in a statement released on Monday.

“Royal Australian Air Force efforts in eastern Syria are being directed exclusively at Daesh – we will not be engaging in the broader conflict in Syria“.

“One of our hornets located and targeted an armoured vehicle carrier and successfully launched a guided missile against it”. “This was done from a distance or height that preserved the safety of the Australian aircraft”, he was qouted as saying by Australian Broadcating Corporation.

Mr Andrews said the fighter jets did not come under fire during the operation and strict controls were in place to limit civilian casualties.

The attack was been confirmed by the Minister.

“I was planning to make a six-monthly update on our operations in the Middle East, and that’s due today”.

He said the recent decision to extend RAAF air task group missions from Iraq into Syria was a logical extension of existing commitments which have seen combat aircraft conduct 408 missions since last October, dropping 515 bombs.

So far 1,600 Iraqi army personnel have graduated from training courses provided by Australian and New Zealand forces.

Last week the Federal Government announced that Australia’s air campaign against IS would be expanded beyond Iraq to include parts of Syria, where Islamic State militants have seized large areas of territory amid a raging civil war.

“Daesh does not respect borders and threatens the security of Iraq and threatens the security of Iraq and the global community from its safe havens and command centres in Syria”, Mr Andrews said.

“Around 400 Australian Defence Force personnel are now deployed in Afghanistan under Operation HIGHROAD as trainers, mentors, embedded personnel in headquarters and in critical force protection, medical and intelligence roles”, Andrews said.