RAF fighter jets target oilfield on second combat mission

British warplanes carried out airstrikes in Syria early Thursday, hours after Parliament voted to authorize air attacks against Islamic State group targets there.

It is understood the targets were oil fields again, and the mission involved two Tornados and, for the first time, two Typhoons.

Four Tornado jets launched the first United Kingdom air strikes in Syria on Thursday.

Details around the alleged threat are unclear, but the official claimed authorities’ concerns were heightened by MPs decision on Wednesday night to extend air strikes over Syria.

Across the border in Iraq, an unmanned RAF Reaper drone – flying close support for Kurdish peshmerga ground forces – destroyed an IS truck bomb with a direct hit from a Hellfire missile, the MoD said.

The jets took off from Britain’s base in Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, where Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has been visiting troops.

Speaking at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus where the United Kingdom strike force is based, Mr Fallon said future missions would see them attack IS’s headquarters and its command and control structure.

“This campaign is not going to be short or simple”. It’s because of who we are in Britain and the West that we have this particular death cult.

In total eight air strikes were carried out, and reports suggest that they were all successful.

“There’s been nothing dramatic in the missions or targets so far, backing up David Cameron’s warning that Britain’s involvement in the battle against IS in Syria will require patience and persistence”, he said.

RAF Tornado fighter jets had already flown an armed patrol over the east of the country “gathering intelligence on terrorist activity”, the Ministry of Defence said.

“Last night saw the full force of the RAF”.

Simultaneously, the RAF provided air support to Kurdish security forces in north-west Iraq, who are continuing to fight IS (Daesh) extremists in the country.