Defence secretary Michael Fallon says strike in Syria was ‘absolutely legal’ because there was ‘no other way of dealing with these terrorists’

The government is prepared to carry out further drone strikes against British jihadis in Syria, the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has said.

Fallon said that there were more than three people who represented such a threat to the UK that airstrikes against them could be authorised – but refused to say that this amounted to an American-style “kill list”. His comments come the day after David Cameron revealed that an unprecedented aerial strike in Syria had killed two Britons fighting alongside Islamic State (Isis).



Fallon said that the strike had been undertaken in the knowledge that Reyaad Khan, a 21-year-old from Cardiff, had been planing an attack, but said he couldn’t go into more detail about the nature of the plans. He was killed alongside another Briton, Ruhul Amin, 26.

“We don’t have general permission [from parliament] to carry out military operations in Syria, but at the time of the debate last year the prime minister made it extremely clear that where there was a vital national interest at stake we wouldn’t hesitate to take action rather than seek prior permission … and then come and explain to parliament afterwards, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday,” Fallon told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.



“There are other terrorists involved in other plots that may come to fruition over the next few weeks and months and we wouldn’t hesitate to take similar action again,” he added.

“There is a group of people who have lists of targets in our country, who are planning armed attacks on our streets, who are planning to disrupt major public events in this country and our job to keep us safe, with the security agencies, is to find out who they are, to track them down and, if there is no other way of preventing these attacks, then yes we will authorise strikes like we did.”

Fallon said he wouldn’t go into numbers, but confirmed that there were more than two or three people who fitted into this category. It’s highly likely that Mohammed Emwazi, believed to be the Isis executioner known as Jihadi John, is among those.



Earlier on ITV’s Good Morning Britain he denied the government had a “kill list” but said he would not hesitate to carry out a similar strike. “It’s the other way around, it’s the terrorists out there in Isil [Isis] headquarters in Raqqa in north-east Syria; it’s they who have a kill list,” he added.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reyaad Khan: the jihadi who wanted to be British prime minister - exclusive video

Speaking to the Commons on its first day back after the summer break on Monday, Cameron justified the strikes on the grounds that Khan, who had featured in a prominent Isis recruiting video last year, represented a “clear and present danger”.

Two other Isis fighters – including Amin, another Briton – were killed in the attack on the Syrian city of Raqqa on 21 August, the first time that a UK prime minister has authorised the targeting of a UK citizen by an unmanned aerial drone outside a formal conflict. A third Briton, Junaid Hussain, 21, was killed by a separate US airstrike three days later as part of a joint operation.

Cameron disclosed the strikes in a dramatic afternoon statement which had originally been billed as a chance to outline his plans to take thousands of extra refugees from Syria. Downing Street announced on Monday morning that the statement, in which the prime minister confirmed that Britain would take 20,000 refugees over the next five years, would also cover a major counter-terrorism announcement.



The prime minister told MPs: “In an act of self-defence and after meticulous planning Reyaad Khan was killed in a precision airstrike carried out on 21 August by an RAF remotely piloted aircraft while he was travelling in a vehicle in the area of Raqqa in Syria.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ruhul Amin appearing in a militant video posted online. Photograph: YouTube/PA

“In addition to Reyaad Khan who was the target of the strike, two [Isis] associates were also killed, one of whom – Ruhul Amin, has been identified as a UK national. They were [Isis] fighters and I can confirm there were no civilian casualties.”

The strikes were authorised by the prime minister at a meeting of senior members of the national security council some months ago after intelligence agencies presented evidence to ministers that Khan and Hussain were planning to attack commemorative events in the UK.

It is understood that the two events were the VE Day commemorations, presided over by the Queen at Westminster Abbey on 10 May, and a ceremony to mark the murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich on armed forces day on 27 June. The Sun reported on 27 June that Hussain had allegedly admitted instructing undercover reporters how to attack soldiers on armed forces day.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest An armed forces and veterans’ parade on the final day of VE day commemorations in London in May. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

The preparations took place over a period of months after the intelligence agencies briefed ministers. The prime minister then convened a meeting of senior members of the national security council attended by the attorney general, Jeremy Wright, who advised that a strike would be legal on the grounds of self defence.

Government sources said that ministers then “agreed an approach” – a strike by an unmanned RAF Reaper drone – and authorised intelligence agents and the RAF to identify the right moment to strike.

The prime minister said that both Hussain and Khan were involved in actively recruiting Isis sympathisers and “seeking to orchestrate specific and barbaric attacks against the west”. He added: “We should be under no illusion. Their intention was the murder of British citizens.”

Downing Street dismissed suggestions that the prime minister had deliberately engineered UK involvement in the drone strikes rather than leaving them to the US, which is involved in regular operations over Syria, as a way of making the case for greater British involvement in action against Isis in the country.

The prime minister’s spokeswoman said he had sanctioned the operation after receiving specific intelligence that UK citizens were planning terror attacks on UK soil.

Cameron, who had said that he would seek parliament’s approval before extending any British military action against Isis targets from Iraq to Syria, said he had acted in line with his commitments. He reserved the right to authorise strikes without a vote in the event of an emergency.

