A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle taxis down the runway at an air base in Afghanistan on its way to another wartime mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson).
The United Kingdom has officially claimed responsibility for a drone strike that hit the Turkish-occupied town of al-Bab in Syria’s northern region on December 20.
In a statement released on December 22, the British Ministry of Defence said that the drone strike targeted an “active” terrorist.
“On Tuesday 20 December, a [MQ-9] Reaper remotely piloted aircraft kept close observation on a building near al-Bab in northern Syria where at least one active Daesh [ISIS] terrorist was known to be present. Great care was taken to ensure that any potential risks to civilians were understood and minimized before the Reaper’s crew fired a salvo of two Hellfire missiles which both struck the target accurately,” the statement read.
Syrian news sources reported that a Yemeni commander of ISIS, identified only by his nom de guerre “Abu Yasir,” was severely wounded as a result of the strike. The fate of the man and his current whereabouts are unknown.
This was the second British drone strike on northern Syria this year. On October 10, a Reaper combat drone eliminated a high-ranking commander of ISIS near the town of Hammam at-Turkman, which is also occupied by the Turkish military and its proxies.
The UKs decision to directly targeted terrorists in Turkish-occupied areas in northern Syria reflects lack of trust in Turkey, which is a NATO ally.
In the last few years, the Royal Air Force intensified its operations against ISIS’s remaining cells in northern Syria in the framework of the United States-led coalition. British Special Forces are also still operating side by side with American troops in the region.
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Love it when UK clowns showing their heads behind the US ass – saying we are here as well supporting terrorism and stealing as they are know for in history.