Australian planes carry out first successful airstrikes in Syria against Isis
Last Wednesday the then prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced that Australia would join coalition forces in an air campaign over eastern parts of Syria. The chief of the defence forces, Mark Binkin, said then that bombings would begin within a week.
Andrews confirmed that Australian planes had successfully attacked Isis targets. "Two days ago, Australian Hornet fighter aircraft destroyed a Daesh armoured personnel carrier with a precision-guided missile," Andrews said on Wednesday morning. Daesh is Andrews' preferred term for Isis. "Our aircraft are operating on an almost daily basis. The hornets at the moment, the Wedgetail command and control aircraft and the refueller. "Two of our Hornets identified the personnel carrier, which was hidden in a Daesh compound," he told ABC Radio earlier on Wednesday. "That information was reported back to the combined operations centre by our Wedgetail command and control aircraft, and upon receiving authorisation to proceed one of the Hornets employed a precision-guided weapon to destroy the target. "This was done from a distance or height that preserved the safety of the Australian aircraft. We work within very strict rules of engagement, and those rules of engagement are to ensure as far as possible that we don't have unwanted civilian casualties." The news of the successful mission was first broken in a statement issued by the US military, Australia's partners in the region. Andrews confirmed that Australian planes had successfully attacked Isis targets. "Two days ago, Australian Hornet fighter aircraft destroyed a Daesh armoured personnel carrier with a precision-guided missile," Andrews said on Wednesday morning. Daesh is Andrews' preferred term for Isis. "Our aircraft are operating on an almost daily basis. The hornets at the moment, the Wedgetail command and control aircraft and the refueller. "Two of our Hornets identified the personnel carrier, which was hidden in a Daesh compound," he told ABC Radio earlier on Wednesday. "That information was reported back to the combined operations centre by our Wedgetail command and control aircraft, and upon receiving authorisation to proceed one of the Hornets employed a precision-guided weapon to destroy the target. "This was done from a distance or height that preserved the safety of the Australian aircraft. We work within very strict rules of engagement, and those rules of engagement are to ensure as far as possible that we don't have unwanted civilian casualties." The news of the successful mission was first broken in a statement issued by the US military, Australia's partners in the region, The Guardian reports.
