UK To Fly Reaper Drones Over Iraq To Battle IS

UK To Fly Reaper Drones Over Iraq To Battle IS

The drone is being deployed outside Afghanistan for the first time, as the Kurds call for support in the Syrian town of Kobani.

13:56, UK, Thursday 16 October 2014





It will be the first time the drone has been used outside Afghanistan




Britain is to use Reaper drones over Iraq as part of the battle against Islamic State militants.



The deployment, revealed by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon in a written ministerial statement, is to happen within weeks, according to Sky sources.

It will be the first time British armed drones have been flown outside Afghanistan.

The drones will be based somewhere in the Middle East outside of Iraq.

Mr Fallon's statement said: "As Reaper numbers in Afghanistan reduce, we intend to move more of them to the Middle East, adding to our coverage."


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Gallery: US Reaper Drone Facts
It is armed with 14 Hellfire missiles, or a weapons combo including two 500lb Paveway II laser-guided bombs
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Gallery: US Reaper Drone Facts
It is armed with 14 Hellfire missiles, or a weapons combo including two 500lb Paveway II laser-guided bombs
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The drone announcement came as a senior Syrian Kurdish official appealed to the international community to allow weapons into the border town of Kobani which remains under threat from IS. 



The Islamic State group is able to bring in reinforcements and weapons at any time, risking

the town on the border with Turkey, said Idriss Nassan.



Airstrikes by the US-led coalition were "effective" but not enough to defeat the jihadis, he stressed.



"From the start we said the coalition's airstrikes will not be able to save Kobani or to defeat Daesh in the area," Mr Nassan said by telephone, using an Arabic acronym to refer to the Islamic State group.



"We call upon the international community to open a humanitarian safe passage to allow in food, medicine, and weapons supplies."






Video: Army Reveals State-Of-The-Art Drone

"Kobani is not fighting for itself alone. Kobani is fighting for the world community. This is a battle against terrorism and therefore all world countries are asked to participate in this resistance," he insisted.



Fighting is continuing in Kobani where American-led forces carried out more than 21 attacks on the militants over two days.



The airstrikes have allowed Kurdish militiamen to regain some of the positions they lost over the past few days with, according to the Pentagon, hundreds of IS fighters being killed.

IS launched its offensive on Kobani in mid-September, capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages and a third of the town in lightning advances that sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing across the border into Turkey.



http://news.sky.com/story/1354304/uk-to-fly-reaper-drones-over-iraq-to-battle-is