On 26 September 2014, Parliament voted to begin Royal Air Force airstrikes against ISIL in northern Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government,[1] which began four days later, using Tornado GR4 jets.
[2] On 2 December 2015, the UK Parliament authorised an extension to the Royal Air Force airstrike campaign, joining the US-led international coalition against ISIL in Syria.
[6] A more accurate source from the BBC estimates around 850 people from the UK had traveled to Iraq and Syria to support or fight for jihadist groups.
[7] Former MI6 counter-terrorism head Richard Barrett raised concerns about the potentially large number of radicalised fighters that had returned to Britain from Syria and Iraq.
[25][better source needed] On 24 October 2017, it was announced that a British man who had been fighting against Isil with the Kurdish YPG in Raqqa had been killed whilst trying to clear land mines.
ISIL aims to establish an Islamic State governed by Shari'a law in the region and impose their rule on people using violence and extortion.In August 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that anybody displaying the black standard in the United Kingdom should be arrested.
[30] Other figures, such as Mayor of London Boris Johnson,[31] Conservative backbench MP David Davis,[32] former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey[32] and UKIP leader Nigel Farage have stated that all British citizens in ISIS should lose their citizenship.
"[36] Royal Air Force Tornado jets and Chinook helicopters based in Cyprus have provided humanitarian aid to Yazidi refugees fleeing ISIL, as well as airlifts.