Elite troops parachuted into the Middle East today during the biggest British airdrop in the region since the Suez Crisis.
As many as 202 Paras dropped into Jordan in a land, sea and air show of force against Islamic State and Russian troops.
British forces included crack “Pathfinders” who covertly cleared the way by landing days earlier.
The operation was 56 miles from Syria’s civil war and 12 miles from Zarqa, birthplace of ISIS founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The operation, alongside 30 Jordanian special forces, involved the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, her F35B fighter jets and British Typhoons.
A Daily Mirror team watched as waves of heavily armed 2Para soldiers swooped into the Jordanian desert from just 800ft.
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(Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)
They dropped from C-130 troop-carrier planes and stormed a “village”, with Typhoons from Cyprus “bombing” the “enemy”.
One Para said: “This is what we train so intensely for and it was as close to the real thing as possible.”
Enemy forces were acted out by UK troops as the air was filled with explosions and machine gun fire.
Crack troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade, Britain’s high-readiness “global response” force, joined in.
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(Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)
Military dignitaries from around the world watched the dawn attack in awe.
After parachuting in, 16 Air Assault Brigade Commander Brigadier James Martin was asked by the Mirror if the main enemies were ISIS and Russia.
He replied: “Anyone who wants to destabilise or undermine the rules-based system is a potential adversary.”
Across the Syrian border the civil war includes dozens of terror networks, with ISIS the main aggressor.
(Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)
In the town of Zarqa, there are still many supporters of al-Qaeda’s al-Zarqawi who was killed by US forces in 2006.
Russian and Iranian troops also exert pressure against Western interests there, via proxy armed groups or terror units.
Brigadier Martin was also asked about using paras quickly to enter a target area.
He said: “What better way is there to demonstrate your intent at speed, so your adversaries understand how committed you are and allies as well?”
The officer also referred to “sub-threshold” warfare, hostile acts by Russia, China and Iran that just fall below the West’s red lines to go to war.
He added: “In this world of conflict and competition, what they call sub-threshold, the grey space, parachuting is a vote of commitment, as a way of getting troops quickly around the world.”
Russian defence attache Denis Khittry was impressed by the British exercise, 65 years on from the Suez crisis.
(Image: Reuters)
Elite Pathfinders had earlier performed a 12,000ft drop into the landing zone.
Captain “Jim”, 25, was given clearance to talk about his job and how he can be sent anywhere in the world after just a few hours’ notice.
He said: “We deploy ahead of the main force and prepare the landing zone.
“Sometimes we are the only eyes and ears anyone has on the ground.”