Fallon says air raids on IS will make Britain ‘safer’

Fallon told military personnel in Cyprus: “We are going to use force against them in the headquarters, their command and control, their logistics, but also in the infrastructure that supports them”.

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.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon briefed Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Saturday morning, at the Presidential Palace, about the ongoing British operations to combat terrorism.

The Scottish National Party’s leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson, said: “We are told that there are 70,000 troops that are opposed to Assad and Daesh which could take the territory Daesh now holds”. “Asked later if he meant Western ground forces, Mr Kerry said: “(I’m) talking about Syrian and Arab, as we have been consistently”.

“When I said ‘no boots on the ground, ‘ I think the American people understood generally we are not going to do an Iraq-style invasion of Iraq or Syria with battalions that are moving across the desert”, he said to CBS News.

“Up until now, they’ve (the RAF) had one hand tied behind their back, being only able to strike in Iraq but not on the Syrian side of a border that ISIL Daesh themselves don’t recognise”, he said.

The new air campaign was approved in a 397-223 vote, following a 10-hour debate in the British parliament on Tuesday. “And it derives from Syria”, he said.

The White House later clarified that they were able “to halt the [geographic] expansion of the group which had been on the march in both Syria and Iraq for sometime”.

Mr Cameron said high-precision, laser-guided Brimstone missiles would help to make a real difference by hitting the de facto Islamic State capital of Raqqa and its oil-trading business. What is true is that from the start our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them. We are people who choose our Government, accept a rule of law, tolerate other religions. Hours after that approval, British bombers struck the oilfields that the government says are being used to fund attacks on the West.

Britain already has eight Tornado fighter jets plus drones involved in the US-led coalition striking IS targets in Iraq.

Announcing details of Friday night’s air strikes, the Ministry of Defence said the RAF had targeted a “very large Daesh-controlled oilfield at Omar in eastern Syria”.