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Operation Shader is the code name given to the British participation in the ongoing military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).〔 The operation began on 26 September 2014 following a formal request for assistance by the Iraqi government.〔 Prior to this, the Royal Air Force had been engaged in a humanitarian relief effort over Mount Sinjar, which involved multiple humanitarian aid airdrops by transport aircraft and the airlifting of displaced refugees in Northern Iraq. By 21 October 2014, the intervention had extended onto Syria with the Royal Air Force conducting surveillance flights over the country.〔 On 7 September 2015, a Royal Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone conducted an airstrike in Syria which killed two British-born ISIL fighters. On 17 September 2015, it was reported that around 330 ISIL fighters had been killed by British airstrikes, with zero civilian casualties.〔〔 By 26 September 2015, ISIL had lost a quarter of its territory.〔 ==Background== On 9 August 2014, following the genocidal persecution of minorities in Northern Iraq, the British Government deployed the Royal Air Force over Iraq to conduct humanitarian aid airdrops. The first airdrop was conducted on 9 August, with two C-130 Hercules aircraft flying from RAF Akrotiri airdropping bundles of aid into Mount Sinjar. A second airdrop commenced on 12 August but had to be aborted due to the risk of injury to civilians. The airdrops were able to resume over Mount Sinjar within 24 hours and two large consignments of aid were delivered. During the same day, the Ministry of Defence announced the deployment of Tornado GR4 strike aircraft. These aircraft, also flying from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, were to help coordinate British airdrops using their LITENING III reconnaissance pods; they were not authorized to conduct any airstrikes prior to Parliamentary approval. Four Chinook transport helicopters were also deployed alongside them to participate in any required refugee rescue missions. On 13 August, two Hercules aircraft dropped a third round of humanitarian aid into Mount Sinjar. This was followed by a fourth and final round on 14 August, bringing the total number of humanitarian aid airdrops conducted by the RAF to seven. The UK suspended its humanitarian aid airdrops on 14 August, citing the improved humanitarian situation in Mount Sinjar. On 18 August 2014, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon disclosed during an interview that members of the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (2 YORKS) had been deployed on the ground in Irbil to help secure the area for a possible helicopter rescue mission. The battalion, which, at the time, was the Cyprus-based Theatre Reserve Battalion (TRB) for Operation Herrick in Afghanistan, had left Irbil within 24 hours. On 16 August 2014, following the suspension of humanitarian aid airdrops, the Royal Air Force began shifting its focus from humanitarian relief to reconnaissance. The Tornado GR4's, which were previously used to help coordinate humanitarian aid airdrops, were re-tasked to gather vital intelligence for anti-ISIL forces. The Ministry of Defence also confirmed that an RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft had been deployed over the country on what was its first operational deployment since entering service. The aircraft was based at RAF Al Udeid in Qatar alongside U.S. Rivet Joint and KC-135 tanker aircraft.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2014/08/16/aviation-news-raf-deploys-its-rc-135-rivet-joint/ )〕 In addition to Tornado and Rivet Joint, the Royal Air Force also deployed Reaper, Sentinel, Shadow and Sentry aircraft to fly surveillance missions over Iraq and Syria.〔〔〔 As of 26 September 2015, the United Kingdom had flown a third of all coalition surveillance flights over Iraq and Syria.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Shader」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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