RAF

Armed Forces Minister: We Have To Defeat Daesh

The Armed Forces Minister, Mike Penning MP, has visited British personnel stationed in Cyprus.

Ahead of the Iraqi-led offensive to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State the Conservative politician met some of the 1,200 aircrew currently involved in Operation Shader, the UK's contribution to the fight against IS.

A former soldier himself, having served as a Grenadier Guardsman, Mr Penning spoke to Forces TV while at RAF Akrotiri.

He praised the contribution being made by the Royal Air Force and stressed that the current military effort was working to reclaim territory from the self-declared caliphate.

"From the British public's point of view, which is paying for this at the end of the day, it is working, you can see the ground that's being recovered and you can see around the world that with the terrible atrocities being committed by Daesh we have to defeat them."

The Akrotiri base is currently home to the eight Royal Air Force Tornado and six Typhoon jets, backed by Voyager, Sentinel and Sentry aircraft, tasked with striking terrorist targets in Syria and Iraq.

For an exclusive look behind the scenes of Op Shader please click here.