Two British born IS fighters killed in UK drone attacks in Syria

In what is seen as the first independent British military action in Syria, two British born IS jihadists were killed in a precision attack conducted by remotely piloted aircraft, commonly referred to as ‘Drones’ on Aug 21 in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The British Prime Minister David Cameron announced about the air strike on Monday. This strike is also the first drone attack conducted by the UK against one of its own citizens. The slain jihadists were identified as Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, 21 and Ruhul Amin, 26 from Aberdeen. The attack which was authorized by defence secretary Michael Fallon was conducted without the approval of the British parliament and was stated as a perfectly legal act of Self defence as one the men killed was known to be planning a series of attacks in the UK. The Prime minister said that Khan was targeting a high profile commemoration service about to take place at that time in Britain.

In his commons statement, Mr. Cameron revealed that the attorney general, upon being consulted about the strikes had agreed that there was a clear legal basis for this operation. The reaction from other leaders was mixed with many questions being raised. The acting Labour leader Harriet Harman was among the many leaders who urged the government to publish the legal notice and she called for an independent scrutiny of the attack. While the former shadow home secretary David Davis said he believed the strike was justified, he also expressed caution about the possibility of such attacks turning into a routine affair as was the case with the Americans. The human rights group Reprieve described the air strike as “deeply worrying”.

While announcing the strikes, Mr. Cameron said: “My first duty as Prime Minister is to keep the British people safe. That is what I will always do. There was a terrorist directing murder on our streets and no other means to stop them. But I am not prepared to stand here in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on our streets and have to explain why I did not take the chance to prevent it when I could have done.”

A third Briton, Junaid Hussain, 21 was also killed in a separate US air strike. Officials said they decided to go ahead with the air strike against their primary target Reyaad Khan after it had emerged that Khan was plotting to attack the VJ day commemoration services that were held last month and was attended by The Queen, The Prince of Wales and the Prime minister.

While British warplanes were engaged in airstrikes against the IS in neighboring Iraq, the role of the UK in Syria (against the IS) – before this airstrike, was limited to intelligence gathering alone and did not include any participation in the punitive airstrikes conducted by a US led international coalition. And this is seen by the Royal United Services Institute think tank as a big departure in policy.

Vijay ram