RAF

MoD Releases Footage Of RAF Reaper Drone Strike Against ISIL

The RAF has released a video of one of its Reapers using a Hellfire missile, in an attack that destroyed an ISIL supply truck in Iraq.

The highly-accurate strike, made on July 21, was made despite the truck being parked under a concrete-roofed vehicle bay.

The RAF has now flown more than 1,000 missions over Iraq.

It comes as the Pentagon announces that US air power will be used for the first time to defend locally-trained forces fighting on the ground in Syria.

Until now, the US-led air campaign, that began last August, has focused almost exclusively on Islamic State, that controls huge parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

A Pentagon spokesman said the 'limited defensive air cover' will be used to protect a small group of lightly equipped 'moderate Syrian rebels' that have been vetted and trained by the US.