[ArutzSheva] Royal Air Force had struggled to find targets at first, as Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
forces avoid presenting target; Kurds capture key border town.
Britannia conducted its first
The British parliament had voted to join the US-led air campaign against IS on Friday, but Royal Air Force (RAF) jets reportedly struggled to find military targets to strike, returning without dropping a single bomb from their first five missions, according to reports.
But British Tornado jets finally found their first targets early Tuesday evening, hitting an unspecified "heavy weapons" positions, as well as an armed pickup truck, according to the Ministry of Defense. The issue appears to be the fact that IS fighters in Iraq have dispersed in response to ongoing bombing raids by coalition forces, and presenting as small a target as possible.
The UK, along with many other European nations, is limiting its part in the campaign to Iraq - where the anti-IS coalition has been invited to strike by the government - and avoiding Syria, whose embattled regime has said it would regard any
But the vast majority of IS's major assets are in fact located in Syria, which is why the US and allied Arab forces have ignored the Assad regime's demands and bombed scores of targets in the north of the country, including IS's de-facto capital, Raqqa.
Despite the delay in striking, Kurdish forces reportedly told the BBC that the RAF's efforts - which also included intelligence-gathering and surveillance - had helped them capture a key town near the border with Syria.
Kurdish forces on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border are facing-off against IS in fierce fighting which has reportedly claimed heavy casualties on both sides, according to local activists.