Two Britons killed in RAF Syria strike, PM tells MPs

Two British fighters with so-called Islamic State were killed by an RAF drone strike in Syria in an “act of self-defence”, David Cameron has said.

Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan was targeted in Raqqa on 21 August and died alongside Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, and another fighter, the PM told MPs.

Khan, 21, had been plotting “barbaric” attacks on UK soil, he said.

The action was lawful and necessary, Mr Cameron said, despite MPs previously ruling out UK military action in Syria.

‘Entirely lawful’

Khan was killed in a precision air strike by an RAF remotely piloted aircraft “after meticulous planning” while he was travelling in a vehicle, the prime minister said.

The strike was “entirely lawful” and had been approved by the attorney general, he said.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Cameron said: “My first duty as prime minister is to keep the British people safe.

“There was a terrorist directing murder on our streets and no other means to stop him.

“This government does not for one moment take these decisions lightly.

“But I am not prepared to stand here in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on our streets and have to explain to the House why I did not take the chance to prevent it when I could have done.”

Another British national, Junaid Hussain, from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August, he added.

Analysis

By BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale

Unmanned Reaper drones joined RAF Tornado jets in conducting surveillance and air strikes soon after Parliament authorised military action against the group calling itself Islamic State last September.

The vote confined that military action to Iraq, but at the time the prime minister told MPs he “reserved the right” to act elsewhere “if there were a critical British national interest at stake”.

The government will argue the air strike on Reyaad Khan was such a case. But carrying out an RAF airstrike in Syria will still be controversial; even more so because a British citizen was targeted.

Though government officials insist that he posed a direct threat to the UK and was on a legitimate “target list”, there’ll be plenty of questions. What was the intelligence on which the decision was based? Whose target list was he on?

There are reports the CIA has compiled a list of high-value targets. There will inevitably be some suspicion around the secrecy – the MOD has never publicly stated how many Reapers the RAF are operating or where they’re based.

The fact that RAF Reapers have been flying over Syria is not in itself a surprise. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told MPs last October they would be conducting surveillance missions.

But in a written statement he also stated: “Reapers are not authorised to use weapons in Syria; that would require further permission.”

BBC