Over the Christmas period the UK attacked ISIS with ten airstrikes in south east Syria and Iraq in an effort to crush the crush the terrorist group in the slithers of territory it controls. The assaults were carried out by a mixture of fighter jets and drones.
Much of this was in support the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) but also over the border in Iraqi territory. The strikes were a mixture of assaults on ISIS fighters and destroying their assets such as storage centres holding weapons and ammunition. Often the fighter jets would hit buildings and tunnels where ISIS members were holed up.
Perhaps the most significant airstrike was one against a group of extremists “tracked to tunnels hidden beneath an extensive palm grove some twenty miles north of Baghdad.”
The town of Hajin was liberated in mid-December by the SDF.
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According to the UK government some 1,350 British personnel are involved in the fight to defeat ISIS. This includes intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and airstrikes, training of Iraqi and vetted Syrian forces, and the use of naval ships.
Two British special forces soldiers were reportedly injured when when they were hit by an ISIS-fired missile near Deir Al-Zour in south east Syria earlier this month.
