Monday 9 October – a Reaper destroyed a large truck-bomb north-east of Dayr az Zawr in Syria, and assisted a coalition air strike nearby…

The Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by the Coalition, continue to make good progress towards the fall of Raqqah, having now cleared around 90% of the city. The RAF have played a pivotal role in this, striking 213 targets in and around Raqqah since the start of the SDF offensive. This included two Tornado GR4s providing close air support to the Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqah on Thursday 12 October. A Paveway IV guided bomb was deployed to target the upper storeys of a building from which a Daesh sniper was firing, and a second weapon struck another building from which terrorists were engaged in a combat with the SDF.

Elsewhere, an area some twenty miles north-east of Dayr az Zawr remained a key focus for Royal Air Force Reaper patrols supporting the operations of the SDF in the area. On Monday 9 October, a Reaper spotted a concealed truck-bomb, which allowed a coalition fast jet to destroy it with an accurate strike. The Reaper then dealt with a second such truck-bomb using its own Hellfire missiles, which resulted in a very large secondary explosion when the vehicle was hit, proving the presence of explosives.