UK carries out second airstrike against Islamic State oilfields

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.

The UK’s air strikes are unlikely to change the military balance but the vote handed Prime Minister David Cameron the chance to show Britain’s willingness to add to a Western consensus for taking the battle to militants in Syria.

Fallon, speaking during a visit Akrotiri, admitted that the air strikes could continue for three years. And he denied the suggestion that the military were avoiding going for IS leaders after a second strike on infrastructure rather than personnel.

The latest overnight raids saw the RAF Typhoons, which arrived on Cyprus from Lossiemouth in Moray on Thursday, deployed for the first time in combat against IS. A similar strike took place on Wednesday.

He said there were no reports of any civilian casualties. You can not defeat them without cooperation with forces on the ground.

He said the expansion of the strike force had been “seamless” and that their work was valued by Parliament and the people of the UK.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that more than 40 IS jihadists were also wounded “in a series of around 15 strikes on IS bases by planes believed to be from the US-led coalition”. “And it derives from Syria”, he said.

It was also reported that one of the Paris gunmen travelled to London and Birmingham earlier this year, before returning to the continent. And you are able to hit them harder.

“You can not defeat (IS) through airstrikes alone”.

“This campaign is not going to be short or simple”. We are people who choose our Government, accept a rule of law, tolerate other religions.

While Gulf states in the US-led coalition have flown relatively few airstrikes, the United Kingdom has expanded its bombing beyond Iraq into Syria, and France has dispatched its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, into the eastern Mediterranean as a launchpad for airstrikes into Syria.

“The Tornados and Typhoons used Paveway IV guided bombs to hit wellheads, thus cutting off the terrorists’ oil revenue at the very source”.

The number of fighter jets based at Akrotiri has been bolstered with reinforcements from Lossiemouth ahead of further sorties in Syria and continued raids in Iraq against IS.