On Tuesday the 30th of September, Britain conducted its first attack against ISIS, in Iraq, just one day after the parliament had approved it. This way, Britain had joined countries like The United States and France in the fight against ISIS. The British planes came to help to Kurdish troops in their fight against the Islamic State in the northern areas of Iraq. A bomb was dropped and several missiles were shot at an armed pickup truck, believed to have belonged to ISIS fighters. Both strikes are believed to have been highly successful.
Since Friday, when UK approved airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, British planes have already been involved in missions that involved exploring and surveying over Iraq. However, only today did the British launch their first attacks. Pershmerga Special Forces, in northern Iraq initiated two major operations aimed against the Islamic State, on the 30th of September. The first one was in the city of Rabia, on the border with Iraq and Syria. Rabia is a major crossing point between ISIS and Iraq. This operation was a success, because Kurdish fighters have declared the recapture of Rabia. The second operation is near the city of Daqouq. Several Peshmerga fighters, who are actually Kurdish Special Forces, have been killed in the region by bomb attacks and mines. Both of these operations followed airstrike attacks initiated by coalition.
The United States have conducted eleven strikes in Syria and eleven in Iraq. The airstrikes near Sinjar, in Syria destroyed a tank, three armed vehicles, two ISIS facilities, an observation point and an artillery piece. Jeffrey Harrigian, the assistant deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force has declared on Monday that the U.S. military believes ISIS has suffered severe damage. Due to the latest airstrikes in Syria, ISIS command and control forces are believed to have strongly weakened. He stated that there is clear evidence showing ISIS is unable to gather new fighting troops.
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The U.S. Air Force is responsible for more than half of the airstrikes in Syria, and three-fourths in Iraq. Officials declared that they are achieving good results both by airstrikes and surveillance over any possible attacks which may come from the ground.