UK forces target Isis in more than 1,500 strikes

BRITISH jets and drones have helped to cripple Islamic State with more than 1,500 strikes, the Government said as the bombing campaign reaches its third year.

Weapons stores, truck bombs, mortar teams, snipers and heavy machine-gun positions have all been targeted by the UK military as part of the international push to wipe out the jihadist group.

As the air campaign intensified, UK forces destroyed 17 IS targets in Syria in one day last week, the Ministry of Defence said.

RAF Typhoon and Tornado jets and Reaper drones have flown more than 8,000 sorties carrying out strikes, surveillance and reconnaissance, and refuelling missions.

MPs backed British air strikes against IS in Iraq in September 2014 and extended that to Syria a year later.

The air force has since struck IS, also known as Daesh, 1,340 times in Iraq and 262 times in Syria.

IS has lost around three-quarters of the territory it occupied in Iraq, and 65% in Syria.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: “Britain has made a major contribution to the campaign that has crippled Daesh since 2014, forcing this miserable cult from the gates of Baghdad to the brink of defeat in Raqqa.

“By air, land and sea UK personnel have played a tireless role in striking targets and training allies.”

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