Following the vote in the House of Commons last night, Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aircraft flew their first offensive operation against Daesh terrorist targets inside Syria.
Now, fighter pilots from RAF Lossiemouth are on their way to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
The featured video shows RAF Tornados using a Paveway bomb to destroy an Iraqi Daesh sniper position which had opened fire on Kurdish troops on November 19.
According to British military intelligence the majority of Daesh’s financial income is derived from a number of oilfields they hold.
These are believed to mostly be located in Daesh’s heartlands in eastern Syria.
Several of these oilfields have already been targeted by the US Air Force and France.
A Ministry of Defence (MOD) statement said: “RAF aircraft and precision weaponry are well suited to attacking, with low collateral risk, this type of target.
“Overnight, RAF Tornado GR4s, supported by a Reaper Drone, used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct strikes against six targets within the extensive oilfield at Omar, 35 miles inside Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.”
(RAF Lossiemouth Tornados heading to Cyprus for Syria airstrikes)
TheMOD claim that the Omar oilfield is important to Daesh’s financial operations, and represents over 10% of their potential income from oil.
The MOD statement added: “Carefully selected elements of the oilfield infrastructure were targeted, ensuring the strikes will have a significant impact on Daesh’s ability to extract the oil to fund their terrorism.
“Coalition air operations have already degraded Daesh’s front-line military capabilities and have assisted the Iraqi ground forces in liberating some 30% of the territory that the terrorists initially seized in that country during the summer of 2014.
“By extending RAF offensive operations into Syria, our aircraft are now able to help dismantle the means by which Daesh plan, direct and sustain their campaign of terror.
“Before our aircrew conducted their attacks, as is normal they used the aircraft’s advanced sensors to confirm that no civilians were in the proximity of the targets, who might be placed at risk. Our initial analysis of the operation indicates that the strikes were successful.”
RAF Tornado strike on ISIL position in Sinjar 5 November