UK strikes IS militant oilfield in Syria

UK Royal Air Force Tornados have bombed an Islamic State (IS) militant oilfield in Eastern Syria Thursday, following a positive vote for strikes in the UK parliament. The UK joined the US-led coalition to target IS militant cash sources in Syria using several aircraft and a drone.

UK members of parliament overwhelmingly backed UK military action against IS militants in Syria, by 397 votes to 223, after a 10-hour Commons debate on Wednesday.

A Ministry of Defence statement said production from Syria’s Omar field, the site of the initial strikes, represented over 10 percent of the terrorist group’s potential oil income. “Carefully selected elements of the oilfield infrastructure were targeted, ensuring the strikes will have a significant impact on Daesh’s ability to extract the oil to fund their terrorism,” the statement read.

IS militants control around 350,000 barrels per day of production capacity in fields in Iraq and Syria, but are only able to produce 50,000-60,000 barrels per day according to estimations of information and analysis company IHS. The UK strikes aimed to damage IS’s oil revenue on which the terrorist organisation heavily depends.