Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with France's air force in a coordinated attack against an underground arms cache in Syrian territory used by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.
The site, pinpointed through intelligence, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the release indicated, and was positioned in mountainous terrain just above Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our fighter planes employed Paveway IV guided bombs to hit a number of entry passages providing entry to the facility... initial indications suggest the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no sign of any civilian impact in the operation on Saturday evening and every plane involved returned to base without incident, the MoD added.
The Typhoon fighters were backed up by a Voyager tanker plane.
Daesh - referred to as Daesh - enforced militant control over large swathes of both Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This strike demonstrates our UK leadership, and commitment to work closely with allied nations, to eradicate any revival of Daesh and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary the minister remarked.
RAF aircraft have performed surveillance missions over Syrian airspace to "forestall any attempted resurgence" of IS after its routing at the battle of Baghuz in the year 2019, the ministry said.
"I want to thank every member of the UK armed forces participating in this strike for their expertise and their bravery," the Defence Secretary commented. "They were part of a great many UK service members on duty over the festive period. This mission, to take out militants who pose a risk to our safety, highlights how British military are ready to step up, continuously, protecting the UK domestically and influential overseas."
Last December, the American forces conducted what it termed a "massive strike" against Islamic State objectives in the country, after an attack killed two US servicemembers and a local interpreter in Palmyra.
The U.N. says Islamic State still boasts between 5,000 and 7,000 combatants in Iraq and Syria.
