Syria air strikes conducted by UK military pilots

UK pilots embedded with coalition allies' forces have been conducting air strikes over Syria against the Islamic State group, it has emerged.

This is despite UK MPs voting in 2013 against military action in Syria.

www.bbc.co.uk...

So yeah. Democracy in action. Isn't it wonderful? We tell them not to but they go ahead and do it anyway. Further proof the UK military is completely undeserving of any respect whatsoever. They do not give a flying # about what the people of the UK want, they go ahead and do their own crap regardless. When they come home in a body bag, they bring it on themselves.

a reply to: Firefly_

Hi firefly,

Read the article but looking at the photo, the aircraft look like USAF marked F18A's. Guess the UK pilots are fl;ying them if this is right.

Might be wrong, perhaps someone can correct me. Interesting all the least.

Kindest regards,

Bally.

a reply to: bally001

I think that photo is a stock photo just to illustrate the article (as a significant proportion of images on BBC news are), not of actual action in Syria.

a reply to: Firefly_

Seems like an example of a little boy playing with his toys after he was told not to , and how little the will of Parliament actually matters.

I'd put on my surprised face but I lost it a few forums back.

"Allied forces" huh, that rings a bell. I feel a sense of pride brewing. So I wonder which targets of IS they were pounding. I'm sure Assad is grateful.

You can be rest assured that the military were ordered to do this from higher up. The fact that they go along with it is crazy. But to them an order is an order. They were probably trying to do it in secret. So not to alert the masses that they went against what they had previously agreed upon. You cannot trust the MP's. The government never speaks the truth and always goes against what was previously agree upon. They think people are dumb or something, that they will not find out, or will not speak out about things.

a reply to: Firefly_

They aren't doing it under UK military command though, they are under the command of another NATO force.

In 2013 it was Labour who were opposed to the strikes, and now they are OK with it....as it says in the article, it is a very different situation to 2013.

I was against intervention back then, I'm opposed to any war to be honest, but ISIS need stopped, and fast.

Yep, this is unsurprising. The very essence of Democracy is lost in modern Western societies.

a reply to: Firefly_

They're embedded with foreign units, not with UK units.

From the article:

The MoD said personnel embedded with the US, French and Canadian armed forces had been "authorised to deploy with their units to participate in coalition operations" against IS.

"UK embeds operate as if they were the host nation's personnel, under that nation's chain of command," it said.

That's how it should be if you're going to send troops as part of an exchange program. If their unit deploys to fight, they're part of that unit and subject to the same orders. If you want the benefits, you take the risks.

The fact they are bombing ISIS im not to bothered.


We are at war with ISIS like it or not. They fired the first shots at us. We should eradicate the scum now.

The situation now is diffrent from bombing assad or Libya and even Iraq. We are talking real national defence here, ISIS are a REAL threat to the UK now and are killing UK citizens.

a reply to: Firefly_

Further proof the UK military is completely undeserving of any respect whatsoever.

First of all; I take exception to this.
Our military deserve the utmost respect - the vast majority are the embodiment of professionalism.
But it is the nature of the military that they deploy and take orders from their political masters.

I suggest you'd be far better served directing your anger and outrage at those politicians and their corporate string pullers who dictate policy.

But as far as I can tell this threads not about that.

Secondly; the situation back in 2013 was very, very different.

Whether people like it or not IS and others of a similar ideology have declared war against us and our 'allies'.

I was 100% opposed to any military intervention in Syria back then, now, I think we need to take the gloves off and wipe IS off the face of the earth.
Every atrocity committed against mankind by these barbarians should be met with at least twice as much in retaliation - we need to show them that OUR resolve is stronger than theirs.

And finally; as has been pointed out, if our military personnel are embedded within other countries military on exchange programmes then I think its only right they partake fully in any operations they are involved in - and vice versa - otherwise what exactly is the point of them?

Today it's different. Back in 2013 it was about bombing Syria not ISIS. Syria being a sovereign state. I just think if we are going to fight Isis, air strikes aren't going to be enough, it needs to be full scale war fighting not just dropping bombs from 20 thousand feet. The problem is, does putting men in on the ground just play into Isis hands and all their religious prophesy.

I think we need to not think this as bombing Syria but instead ISIS territory.

Syria has all but collapsed. The areas we are bombing cant really be considered Assad's sovereign territory anymore.

I wish the RAF and USAF good clean shots that kill as many of the IS vermin as possible.

The pilots are seconded to an American unit and under American orders so technically they are American forces. These are working under the auspices of a "coalition" force without the participation of the UK. This is not NATO. But the coalition.

Why people think bombing Al Qaeda 2.0 will somehow have some magical effect that the endless years of bombing hasn't achieved is beyond me.

This whole "they are embedded with foreign militaries" argument is weak and absurd. It's a bit like saying to someone they are forbidden to drive to a certain town. They drive to the town anyway, but drive in a friend's car instead and try to claim it's a completely different situation because they were driving their friends car and they've used it plenty of times before.

Cameron and his cabal are not the slightest bit concerned that this has been going on. They have effectively just given the finger to Parliament and the British people.

These revelations about UK strikes in Syria were gained from a freedom of information request. I read an article this morning where they have set up a panel to look at the freedom of information process. A number of panel members are those who have a vested interest in seeing FOI curtailed or restricted. They want to keep all their dirty secrets away from public gaze, while at the same time enacting mass surveillance upon the populace and claiming that it's for our own safety.

Meanwhile MP's are awarded a 10% pay rise by a supposedly independent body. This at a time of austerity when other people are told to tighten their belts. The timing is crass and insensitive, but again they just don't care. They also want to curtail the ability to undertake strikes, to systematically dismantle the NHS and seriously restructure the BBC. There is no money but apparently there's enough money to spend 2% of GDP on defence, all so the merchants of death can have their big fat contracts.

i say we need to strike at ISIS from every angle, at every opportunity possible!
they are growing more powerful and sophisticated by the day.
why the delay?? lets get at it!
its now or later..they arent going away.