Royal Air Force raids have smashed 30 ISIS targets in a fortnight as the international coalition forces the terrorists to retreat.
An intense wave of attacks between August 9 and August 21 have seen RAF aircrew destroy targets including a terrorist headquarters in Raqqa, machine gun teams and roving trucks.
ISIS – also known as Daesh – has lost more than 70 per cent of the territory it once held in Northern Iraq and Syria. The terror group surged into Iraq in the June 2014.
The terror group is in retreat to its heartland in and around the city of Syrian city of Raqqa.
Royal Air Force raids have smashed 30 ISIS targets in a fortnight as the international coalition forces the terrorists to retreat (file picture of an RAF Tornado at Akrotiri in Cyprus)
An intense wave of attacks between August 9 and August 21 have seen RAF aircrew destroy targets including a terrorist headquarters in Raqqa, machine gun teams and roving trucks (file image of a Typhoon squadron returning to the Cyprus base used in the counter-terror mission)
British aircrews and drones have been launching attacks on ISIS in Iraq and Syria for more than two years (file image of a Typhoon pilot on the tarmac at RAF Akrotiri)
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said recent terror attacks in Europe served as a ‘grim reminder’ of the importance of the UK mission.
Sir Michael said: ‘As Iraqi Security Forces advance on Tal Afar and Syrian Democratic Forces continue with the liberation of Raqqa, the RAF is providing continuous air support in the fight to end Daesh’s barbarous presence in its strongholds.
‘Daesh has now lost over 70 per cent of territory it once occupied in Iraq and is in retreat in Syria.
‘This has only been possible because the UK, as a leading member in the Global Coalition, has hit the terrorists hard where they plan their campaigns of violence, depravity and hate.
‘The recent terrorist attacks serve as grim reminders of the need to defeat Daesh and its twisted ideology across all theatres.’
British aircrews and drones have been launching attacks on ISIS in Iraq and Syria for more than two years.
The RAF have struck ISIS targets in Raqqa, Baiji and Tal Afar as British forces continue to push the jihadi group back in Iraq and Syria
ISIS have been in control of Raqqa in Northern Syria (pictured on Saturday) for several years but has lost 70 per cent of the territory it once held
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (pictured in Raqqa on Saturday) are fighting the terrorists on the ground while coalition aircraft launch air raids from the sky
Troops advance towards the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, today after the Iraqi government announced the beginning of the operation to retake it from the Islamic State
Iraqi forces move in on Tal Afar today as they continue their assault on Isis jiadis in the country
Hundreds of air strikes have been carried out during the campaign and British forces played a key role in helping Iraqi ground troops rout ISIS from the city of Mosul earlier this summer.
The RAF has been flying Typhoon and Tornado jets out of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus for the duration of the campaign.
The latest wave of attacks began on August 9 when a mixed pair of jets continued to provide support to the SDF and destroyed a further defensive position in Raqqa with a Paveway.
Typhoons then maintained a presence over Raqqa over the weekend, destroying an ISIS headquarters building on Saturday August 12.
The aircrew then conducted attacks on Sunday which eliminated three more terrorist positions in the city, including a strongpoint adjacent to the now-abandoned ISIS ‘Immigration Office’, and machine-gun and mortar teams.
This map of Syria and Iraq issued by the Ministry of Defence lays out the complex war zone in the two nations. The areas marked yellow and black were once held by ISIS but have seen the terrorists forced out by allied military action
On Friday August 18, Tornados were tasked with the destruction of a heavily booby-trapped building discovered in eastern Syria, south of Al Hasakah, which was too dangerous to approach.
The building was destroyed with a Paveway which safely detonated the concealed explosives.
A Typhoon flight faced a challenging target last Saturday. The crew was tasked witj taking out a fast-moving truck carrying a group of terrorists across the desert in Iraq, west of Bayji.
Despite the vehicle’s speed, a Paveway IV bomb was guided accurately onto the target, destroying it.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon (left aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth last month) said recent terror attacks in Europe served as a ‘grim reminder’ of the importance of the UK mission