Britain joined US-led air strikes against Islamic State in Syria on Thursday, but Vladimir Putin issued bitter new denunciations of Turkey for shooting down a Russian plane, demonstrating the limits to international solidarity.
British Tornado jets took off from the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus before dawn, hours after parliament in London voted 397-223 to support Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan to extend air strikes from Iraq to Syria. Britain said they struck oil fields used to fund the radical jihadist group.
UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon confirmed that Britain would send eight more warplanes to Cyprus to join the missions.
The British contribution forms only a tiny part of US-led “Operation Inherent Resolve,” which has been bombing the Dae’sh (Arabic acronym of Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria for more than a year with hundreds of aircraft. Previously, the small British contingent participated in strikes on Iraq but not Syria.
The strikes have so far failed to dislodge the militants from a swathe of territory where they have proclaimed a Caliphate to rule over all Muslims, although Washington and its allies say they have helped halt the fighters’ advance.
Washington has announced it will deploy more special forces to conduct raids in both Iraq and Syria and help locate targets for air strikes.
France, after the bloodbath in Paris last month that killed more than 130 people, had called for solidarity from Europe’s other main military power in expanding military action, and Cameron argued that refusing would be a dereliction of responsibility.
However, the quest for unity sustained a sharp blow last week when Nato-member Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. The pilot was killed and another Russian service member died rescuing the plane’s navigator.
“It appears that ‘Allah’ decided to punish the ruling clique of Turkey by depriving them of wisdom and judgment,” Putin said on Thursday during the Russian president’s annual state of the nation speech.
Moscow has already responded with measures including bans on some Turkish fruit and vegetables, and in his icy remarks Putin made clear that would not be the end of it.
“If anyone thinks that having committed this awful war crime, the murder of our people, that they are going to get away with some measures concerning their tomatoes or some limits on construction and other sectors, they are sorely mistaken.”
Turkey would have cause to regret its actions “more than once,” Putin said. Minutes after the speech, his energy minister announced the suspension of a gas pipeline project.
Since the Russian plane was shot down, Moscow has infuriated Turkey by alleging Ankara has links with Islamic State. On Wednesday Russia made it personal, saying Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s family was directly profiting from Islamic State oil smuggling.
Erdogan has refused to apologise for shooting down the Russian plane, which Turkey says had strayed into its air space and ignored repeated warnings. Moscow says it was shot down over Syria unprovoked.
Erdogan sought a meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a climate conference in Paris last week, but was snubbed. Nor has the Russian leader taken his phone calls.
