A total
of 66 Labour MP's sided with the government as Mr Cameron secured a larger than
expected Commons majority. MP's voted by
397 votes to 223 for UK action in Syria after a 10-hour Commons debate. Welcoming
the Commons result, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain was
"safer because of the actions taken by MP's today".
Four Tornados took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus shortly after
MP's voted to approve bombing.
The strikes focused on six targets in an oil field under IS
control in eastern Syria.
Two of the four jets have now returned to base. The Ministry of Defense confirmed they had carried out the "first offensive operation in
Syria".
The first pair of Tornados had left RAF Akrotiri with three 500lb
Paveway bombs each, and returned to base shortly before 03:00 GMT without those
weapons. The jets used their Raptor pods - special long-range photography
equipment - for surveillance, before dropping the Paveway bombs, our
correspondent understands. An RAF Reaper unmanned drone was also in the air to
provide intelligence sources mention.
The use of bombs rather
than the Brimstone missile suggests they were hitting static rather than moving
targets - possibly infrastructure.
The relatively short mission suggests the
Tornados had already been given specific targets before they left.
