Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have joined forces with France's air force in a joint strike targeting an subterranean weapons facility in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.
The location, identified by intelligence, was thought to be storing arms and explosives, the release indicated, and was situated in mountainous terrain just above the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"The RAF jets used precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to hit a number of access tunnels providing entry to the site... preliminary assessments suggest the target was engaged successfully," the ministry announced.
There was no sign of any civilian casualties in the operation conducted Saturday night and each participating jet returned safely, the ministry further stated.
The British jets were assisted by a Voyager tanker plane.
IS - referred to as the so-called Islamic State - enforced jihadist rule over parts of both Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This action shows British leadership, and commitment to work closely with allied nations, to eliminate any revival of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," UK Defence Secretary the Defence Secretary remarked.
British military aircraft have conducted patrols over Syrian airspace to "prevent any efforts to regroup" of IS after its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in the year 2019, the authorities noted.
"I must thank every member of British forces involved in this strike for their skill and their bravery," he commented. "Including them were numerous British troops stationed over the festive period. This action, to take out dangerous terrorists who pose a risk to our security, demonstrates how our armed forces are prepared to act, continuously, keeping Britain secure domestically and powerful internationally."
In December, the US military conducted what it described as a "massive strike" against Islamic State objectives in the country, after an assault resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The U.N. reports Daesh still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
