UK Joins Air Campaign Against ISIS in Syria

British fighter jets struck Islamic State positions in Syria just hours after the lawmakers at Parliament on Wednesday passed a vote authorizing the U.K. to expand its air campaign against the jihadist group.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said on Thursday morning that four Tornado jets conducted a series of air strikes in Syria, before returning to the Akrotiri Royal Air Force base in Cyprus.

The parliament vote, which lasted nearly 10 hours and resulted with 397 in favor and 223 against, highlighted efforts by Prime Minister David Cameron to bolster the U.K.’s reputation as a significant global power, according to the The New York Times.

“This threat is very real,” Cameron said, referring to ISIS as he opened debate on Wednesday at the U.K. House of Commons. “The question is this: Do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat?”

The British air force has already been conducting strikes against ISIS positions in Iraq and serious questions have been raised about the extent to which Britain’s involvement in Syria would be a game changer in the fight against the Islamic State.

“It will not make a big operational difference,” said Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute, but he argued the move is symbolically important and useful operationally.

“A willingness to deploy will allay the concern that the U.K. is not a reliable partner.”

Russia Accuses Turkey of Buying ISIS Oil

Russian military officials presented on Wednesday what they believe to be “hard evidence” that Turkey is involved in the ISIS oil trade.

“We presented evidence how the illegal oil trade is carried out to finance the terrorist groups,” said Russian deputy defense minister Anatoly Antonov.

“We know how much Erdogan’s words are worth,” he said, according to CNN.

Military officials displayed photographs and videos they claim show the links between Turkey ISIS oil refineries in Syria, saying that before Russia began its air strikes in Syria, an estimated $3 million worth of oil was crossing into Turkey every day.

“Three main routes have been exposed for the transportation of oil to Turkey,” said Sergey Rudskoy, one of the military leaders. One route leads to Turkish ports in the Mediterranean Sea, one to an oil refinery in Batman and the third to Cizre.

“The highest political leadership of the country – President Erdogan and his family – are involved in this criminal business,” Antonov said. “If they think the evidence is fake, let them make these areas available to journalists.”

Former ISIS Captive Says Bombing Syria is a Trap

A French journalist held captive by ISIS has said bombing the jihadist group in Syria is a trap, the Guardian reports.

Nicolas Henin urged the community to seek a political end to the conflict, saying that engaging – instead of bombing – Syrians was the only way to ensure the fall of ISIS.

“Strikes on ISIS are a trap. The winner of this war will not be the parties that have the newest, most expensive, most sophisticated weaponry, but the party that manages to have the people on its side,” Henin said in a five-minute video recorded and posted to YouTube by The Syria Campaign.

“At the moment, with the bombings, we are more likely pushing the people into the hands of ISIS. What we have to do, and this is really key, we have to engage the local people,” he said.

Henin said the easiest way to make ISIS “lose ground at high speed” would be to establish a countrywide no-fly zone.

“It would be for the international community to take the decision that all the Syrian regions that are held by the opposition are no-fly zones; no-fly zones for everybody. Not the coalition, not the Russians, not the regime. Nobody. So, actually to provide security to the people would be devastating for ISIS and this is what the international community should focus on,” he said.

Recommended Reads

• London Review of Books: A Raqqa of the Mind
• The Associated Press: Islamic State Group Targets Gays with Brutal Public Killings
• Bloomberg: Islamic State’s New Strategy Is Suicidal
• BBC: Syria’s ‘Lost Generation’ of Children
• NPR: In Syria, Health Care Workers Are The Heroes – And The Targets

Top image: Protesters hold placards as they lie in the street protesting against Britain launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group inside Syria, during a demonstration outside the U.K. Houses of Parliament as a debate continued before a vote, in London on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)