[27] On 28 September 2024 the Ministry of Defence announced that British jets will cease strike operations over Iraq and Syria following the conclusion of the Global Coalition’s military mission against Daesh, which will draw to a close over the next 12 months.

The Iraqi government formally requested the United States and wider international community to carry out airstrikes against ISIL in support of their fight on the ground.

[29][30] During the 2014 NATO summit in Wales, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom to support a coalition to combat ISIL militarily and financially.

On 9 August 2014, following the genocide of Yazidis and other ethnic minorities by ISIL in northern Iraq, the British government deployed the Royal Air Force to conduct humanitarian aid airdrops.

[36] During the same day, the Ministry of Defence announced the deployment of Tornado GR4 strike aircraft to help coordinate the airdrops using their LITENING III reconnaissance pods; they were not authorized to conduct any airstrikes prior to Parliamentary approval.

[43][44] In addition to Tornado and Rivet Joint, the RAF also deployed Reaper, Sentinel, Shadow and Sentry aircraft to fly surveillance missions over Iraq and Syria.

[50] Following the vote, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC that the priority would be to stop the slaughter of civilians in Iraq, and that the UK and its allies would be guided by Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence in identifying targets.

[50] The Royal Air Force began conducting armed sorties over Iraq immediately after parliamentary approval, using its six Tornado GR4s stationed at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

[52] The first airstrike took place on 30 September 2014, when a pair of Tornado GR4s attacked an ISIL heavy weapons position using a Paveway IV laser-guided bomb and an armed pickup truck using a Brimstone missile.

[62] After a nine-month period of no airstrikes, they resumed once again on 10 April 2020 when two Eurofighter Typhoons, together with an MQ-9 Reaper, identified and engaged ISIL forces in Iraq, about 200 km north of Baghdad.

The initial sorties saw the first-time combat use of the Storm Shadow cruise missile by the Eurofighter Typhoon, followed by up to 20 Paveway IV laser-guided bombs in the days after.

[72] In October 2014, the British Government agreed to send 12 members of the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (2 YORKS) into Irbil to train Peshmerga on how to use UK-supplied heavy machine guns.

Hetherington was a member of the Force Protection Platoon, Blenheim Company, 2nd Battalion Duke of Lancaster's Regiment; he was the first British soldier to die in Iraq in almost eight years.

[11] In January 2020, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran following the Baghdad International Airport airstrike, which killed the senior Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani, the British Army training mission in Iraq was temporarily suspended due to safety concerns.

[86][87] On 10 December 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that Islamic State had been completely "evicted" from Iraq after losing control of all of its territory.

[89] Prior to Operation Shader, the House of Commons voted on whether or not take military action against the Syrian Government in response to the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013.

In 2014, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that surveillance missions were being flown over Syria by the Royal Air Force, including via MQ-9 Reaper drones based in Cyprus.

These calls were echoed by the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, who claimed that there was an "illogicality" of British forces observing the Iraq-Syria border whilst ISIL did not.

[103] In September 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that two British-born Islamic State fighters, Rayeed Khan and Rahoul Amin, were targeted and killed in Syria by a Royal Air Force Reaper drone.

[110][111][112] Hours after the vote, four Tornado GR4 strike aircraft left Cyprus and attacked ISIL positions in Syria for the first time, aided by a Voyager aerial refuelling tanker and an MQ-9 Reaper drone.

[69] In 2016, a team of 75 British military trainers were deployed to Turkey and other nearby countries in the anti-ISIL coalition to assist with the US-led training programme in Syria.

[45] Additionally, British forces reportedly helped in the building up of a mechanised battalion in Southern Syria, consisting of tribal fighters to combat Bashar al-Assad's army.

[125] On 23 March 2019, following the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, Islamic State lost its final significant territory in Syria to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the US and its coalition partners, including the UK.

[127] Major General Chris Ghika, Deputy Commander Strategy and Information of CJTF-OIR, stated that "Operation Shader would remain" as ISIL was not "leaderless or rudderless" despite its losses.

[127] In 2015, following the rise of Islamic State in Libya, Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed the UK was prepared to intervene militarily, especially if there was an imminent threat to British lives.

[134][135][136][137][138][139] An official statement by King Abdullah II of Jordan corroborated these reports and disclosed UK Special Forces had carried out joint operations with their Jordanian counterparts.

[201][202] Anti-war groups, including Stop the War Coalition (StWC), planned a protest march through London on 4 October 2014 in response to Operation Shader.

[208][209][210] In the same year, ISIL also claimed responsibility for the Parsons Green train bombing, with the assailant previously blaming his father's death in Iraq on the UK.

He used the announcement to highlight a lack of recognition for those personnel deployed on the operation, but not located directly within the award criteria; such as Coalition Staff in Kuwait/Turkey and RAF Reaper pilots elsewhere in the Middle East.

In the case of the OSM "Iraq & Syria" a recommendation will be made that this outer stripe is Air Superiority Grey, in recognition of the large number of RAF airframes participating in the operation.