Tri-Service
Fallon: Fight Against Daesh Slowly Being Won
The Defence Secretary has been in Cyprus meeting some of the RAF pilots and ground crews involved in operations against Daesh.
On a visit to RAF Akrotiri Michael Fallon said the battle would require patience - but it is being won.
This was Michael Fallon’s first visit to RAF Akrotiri since Theresa May became Prime Minister. He was one of the few cabinet ministers to keep their job.
Michael Fallon emphasised that post-Brexit the UK’s mission to help defeat Daesh would continue unchanged.
The Defence Secretary told members of 903 Expeditionary Air Wing the RAF had now carried out 3,000 missions - comparing the war on Daesh to the battle against fascism during the Second World War.
Last December more jets, including six Typhoons, were sent to RAF Akrotiri to bolster the UK’s strike force as MP’s voted to extend Operation Shader to Syria.
Latest figures show the US-led coalition has now flown more than 100,000 sorties against Daesh in Iraq and Syria and launched just over 14,000 airstrikes.
RAF jets and Reaper drones have carried out just under 1,000 of these - the vast majority in Iraq. The cost to UK taxpayers as of March was £280 million.
Daesh still controls Iraq’s second city Mosul and in the past few days the US launched strikes on targets around Sirte in Libya.
The RAF remains the second largest contributor – behind America – to the air campaign. And Mr Fallon says the RAF hasn’t been at this operational tempo in a single theatre for a quarter of a century.
Recent terrorist atrocities in Europe emphasised the need to destroy Daesh, the Defence Secretary said.
And the work being done in Cyprus is vital to the UK’s part in the war, he added.
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