and on Saturday 26 January, a pair of Tornados struck five positions, all of which had been used by terrorists engaged in firefights with the SDF.

Royal Air Force aircraft have since continued flying armed reconnaissance patrols, on hand to support the SDF if required. Thursday 31 January saw the last operational sorties by Tornado GR4s – a pair flew an uneventful patrol over Syria, recovering safely to RAF Akrotiri at 1400 GMT after a mission lasting 6½ hours.