AFP – Oct. 07, 2014 – British Prime Minister David Cameron meets pilots, engineers and logistic support staff in front of a Tornado GR4 at RAF Akrotiri base on October 2, 2014 in Akrotiri, Cyprus.
Arab and other allied countries have carried out about 10 percent of the nearly 2,000 air raids against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria since early August, US defense officials said.
US warplanes have conducted 1,768 air strikes since August 8, while other coalition aircraft have carried about 195 air raids against the IS jihadists, defense officials told AFP, citing a tally through Sunday.
The Arab states involved in the operation in Syria are Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
France, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia have committed aircraft for the effort in Iraq, though their presence has been on a small scale so far.
Other figures released by officials and by US Central Command showed the mounting scale of the air campaign, which began on August 8 in Iraq and was extended into Syria on September 23.
US and coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,800 sorties in the air war, including more than 1,600 refueling runs by tankers,700 surveillance flights as well as bombing missions, a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.