Two Tornado GR4s from RAF Akrotiri, supported by a Voyager refuelling tanker, conducted two air strikes on Thursday 23 July, when they flew a close air support mission to assist the Kurdish peshmerga near Sinjar. The first attack was on a building from which a sniper was firing at the peshmerga; the precision of the Paveway IV guided bomb and careful planning by the RAF aircrew allowed a successful attack without danger to the friendly forces.

Shortly afterwards, a second target was identified – a terrorist mortar position – this was also destroyed with a Paveway.

Further south that day, a Reaper destroyed another ISIL supply vehicle with a Hellfire missile, and also provided surveillance support for a strike on a terrorist position by other coalition aircraft.

In western Iraq, meanwhile, a Reaper identified a building from which an ISIL group were firing on Iraqi soldiers; this allowed a coalition jet to conduct a successful attack. The Reaper then mounted its own Hellfire attack to destroy a nearby heavy machine-gun position.