Typhoon and Tornado teamed up over Syria before type headed home

Typhoon jets attacked three terrorist-held buildings in eastern Syria, north-east of Abu Kamal, while Tornado jets destroyed a truck-bomb facility.

According to a Ministry of Defence release:

“In Syria, our aircraft have continued to provide close air support to the Syrian Democratic Forces as they clear the ever-diminishing pocket of Daesh territory south of Hajin and north of Abu Kamal.”

Typhoon FGR4s, armed with Paveway IVs, attacked three buildings six miles north-east of Abu Kamal on Wednesday the 9th of January; Islamic State fighters in the buildings were engaged in a close-quarters firefight with the advancing SDF forces.

A pair of Tornado jets meanwhile used two Paveway IVs to deal with a truck-bomb facility in the same area.

After almost four decades on operations, Royal Air Force Tornado jets recently returned home to RAF Marham from operations in the Middle East.

First entering service in 1979, the Tornado jet been involved in Op Shader for the past four and a half years, the UK’s mission to defeat Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Background on Operation Shader

By September last year, the Ministry of Defence had announced that over 1,000 personnel were engaged in theatre and that the Royal Air Force had conducted around 1,000 airstrikes, flying over 2,800 sorties, killing over 3,000 Islamic State fighters.

Last year, it was reported that the Royal Air Force was operating at its most intense for 25 years in a single theatre of operation which far outstripped the UK involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan – RAF jets have dropped 11 times more bombs (1,276 strikes) on Syria and Iraq in the preceding 12 months than they had in the busiest year of action in Afghanistan a decade previously.