LONDON, Sept. 8 (UPI) — The British government says it conducted a drone strike in Syria killing two suspected Islamic State militants who were British citizens.
Prime Minister David Cameron made the announcement Monday, saying the Aug. 21 strike was a “perfectly legal act of self defense,” and that Reyaad Khan, 21, from Cardiff, Wales, and Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, Scotland, were plotting “barbaric” attacks on “high-profile public commemorations” in Britain.
On Tuesday, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC the military “wouldn’t hesitate to take similar action again.”
The incident constitutes the first time the British government has targeted its own citizens with drone strikes, a bar set by the United States in 2011, when it killed Anwar Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and al-Qaida operative living in Yemen.
The prime minister also pointed out Monday that the attack was “the first time in modern times that a British asset has been used to conduct a strike in a country where we’re not involved in a war.”
Parliament had previously ruled out British military action in Syria but in September 2014 approved Royal Air Force participation in airstrikes against IS forces in Iraq, joining Britain to the U.S.-led international coalition bombing campaign known as Operation Inherent Resolve.
However, the BBC notes, Cameron at the time told Parliament he “reserved the right” to act elsewhere “if there were a critical British national interest at stake.”
On Monday Cameron asserted the attorney general had agreed the strike had a “clear legal basis” and was justified under Article 51 of the United Nations charter, which allows states to defend themselves if a threat is deemed imminent.
“We took this action because there was no alternative,” The New York Times quoted Cameron as saying. “In this area, there is no government we can work with. We have no military on the ground to detain those preparing plots.”
A third alleged IS militant and British citizen, Junaid Hussain, is reported to have been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Syria on Aug. 24.
The Monday announcement came as France, which joins the United States and Britain in conducting airstrikes against IS forces in Iraq, announced it would begin reconnaissance flights over Syria, where it would also consider launching airstrikes against the militants.
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