Australian warplanes conduct first airstrike in Syria

SYDNEY, Australia - Australian warplanes have carried out their first airstrike against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, destroying an armoured personnel carrier, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said Wednesday.

"This is part of our logical extension in the fight against Daesh to operate not just over northern Iraq but also to operate over eastern Syria in order to degrade and destroy Daesh Forces," the minister told reporters using the Arabic acronym for IS.

A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18A Hornet fighter destroyed an IS armoured personnel carrier with a guided missile two days ago, Andrews said.

"Two of our Hornets identified the personnel carrier, which was hidden in a Daesh compound.

"That information was reported back to the combined operations centre by our Wedgetail command and control aircraft, and upon receiving authorisation to proceed, one of the Hornets employed a precision guided weapon to destroy the target," he said.

"Sorties are being flown over Syria and Iraq, the majority of our missions are still over Iraq and we're doing them on a very regular basis," Andrews added.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Company, US Central Command released a statement about the airstrike overnight. Andrews was asked why his country had delayed releasing the information until Wednesday.

"We don't normally announce the missions that occur almost on a daily basis," he said.

"On this occasion, I was planning to make a ministerial statement, which is a six-monthly update of our operations in the Middle East and that's due today."

The United States, Canada, Turkey and Gulf states have already been involved in strikes on IS fighters in Syria, while France has been carrying out surveillance flights over Syria in preparation for airstrikes.

Australia joined the US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq last year and last week extended air operations into Syria, saying the legal basis was the collective self-defence of Iraq against the group.

Australian aircraft completed their first operation over Syria on Friday but did not attack any targets.

Britain killed two fighters in a drone attack in Syria last week.