The Ministry of Defence confirmed the strikes, which took place despite the fact that Britain voted against military action in Syria in 2013, and despite David Cameron’s assurance that any plans for military intervention would be put to a vote.
“Ministers need to realise that dropping bombs from 30,000 feet will do nothing to solve the problems in Syria and Iraq”.
The MoD insists that any personnel embedded with a foreign nations’ military are effectively under the control of that country, meaning no rulings from the House of Commons have been breached. We had a major vote. “There is an element of sophistry going on here”, John Baron, a lawmaker from Cameron’s Conservative Party, told the BBC.
“Those individuals should be withdrawn from the embedded programme whilst this vote holds sway, while it still has authority, until we vote again”. “When it was so publicly rejected by parliament, they are being perhaps a little foolish to have British pilots putting themselves in that position”, he said. If governments want to stop that, they can, and there have been occasions in the past when that’s happened. Having said that, it shows insensitivity and I think we are right now, as Parliament, to ask questions. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has argued recently that lawmakers should also consider backing airstrikes.
British forces have been involved in the air campaign against IS in Iraq since last September but they have not formally participated in the wider coalition campaign targeting territory held by the group and other Islamist factions in Syria.
“The programme to embed personnel with allies is extremely valuable to the development of our armed forces but the Government needs to be transparent about the role they play”.
The disclosure came in response to a freedom of information request from a human rights group, Reprieve.
“The United Kingdom itself is not conducting air strikes in Syria”, a spokesman said.
The first of the two British Airseeker planes has been flying surveillance missions over Syria and Iraq for six months.
Although the figure cited is believed to be in the single digit. The troops are on an exchange program, and are effectively operating as foreign forces, officials added.
Reprieve’s staff attorney Jennifer Gibson accused the ministry of keeping both the public and legislators “in the dark”.
Mr Fallon insisted the Government remained committed to seeking parliamentary approval before launching British air strikes on Syria.
Although it is not presently known which aircraft were flown by the pilots, the government has revealed that three air force officers flew sorties with Canadian and American forces.
