Aviation
Military /
Middle East
More geopolitical tension
British Air Force RAF wants to send F-35 fighters to Syria and Iraq
F-35B britânico
Defence Imagery, OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gabriela Ramos
5/5/2021
According to Sky News, the British Air Force will send its 617 Squadron F-35B stealth fighters to Iraq and Syria, as part of an international anti-terrorist military union, Operation Shader.
F-35A
Richard Schunemann/Unsplash
According to Air Force Chief Marshal Michael Wigston, “violent extremism and the toxic ideology that underlies it are still rooted [in the region]. (...) We will conduct operations in support of the Iraqi government, fighting against the remnants of the Daesh (extremist group better known as Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria, continuing to fight them in its sanctuary, since otherwise would be threatening the streets of the UK and our allies ".
The F-35B will be part of the aircraft carrier strike group. For him, these operations are "something that airpower has been doing effectively since 2014 and the British Royal Air Force has played a considerable role in this success". According to him, the Islamic State group no longer has the strength it had in the years 2015 and 2016, when it exercised control over large territories.
Wisgton said: "In the past two years, we have identified exchanges where they have dug fortified positions in the mountains, in remote areas, and we have helped the Iraqi government to eliminate those remaining." The United Kingdom claimed to have carried out air strikes against jihadist groups ("radical" members of Jihad, the Muslim "holy war") in the mountains of Makhmur, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in northern Iraq.
Military action in the region led by the United States continues, even after Iraq's victory in the conflict against "extremist" groups in 2017.
Hyperlinks:
...
...
...
Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
|