British forces have completed the first bombing raid inside Syria against Isis following a decisive vote in the House of Commons.
A number of RAF Tornado GR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker and a Reaper, bombed six targets at around 3am (GMT) within the Omar oilfields, roughly 35 miles inside the Syrian border.
The jets – which deployed Paveway IV guided bombs – were working alongside US-led coalition aircraft, a statement from the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
“Our initial analysis of the operation indicates that the strikes were successful,” it adds.
The Omar oilfields have been targeted by coalition forces before.
Oil is one of the most profitable aspects of Isis’s operation, with the Omar oilfield one of the largest under the extremist organisation. Omar’s fields are believed to supply around 10 per cent of their total income from oil.
The statement added there were no “civilians in the proximity of the targets, who might be placed at risk.”
