Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with French aircraft in a joint strike against an underground arms cache in Syrian territory employed by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.
The location, pinpointed through surveillance, was assessed as storing arms and explosives, the release indicated, and was situated in mountainous terrain just to the north of the historic site of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes employed laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility... initial indications are that 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 safely, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon fighters were assisted by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
IS - also known as Daesh - established extremist governance over significant areas in Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This operation underscores British leadership, and resolve to operate in unison with our allies, to eliminate any resurgence of Daesh and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," Britain's Defence Chief the minister stated.
UK warplanes have carried out surveillance missions over Syria to "forestall any attempted comeback" of Islamic State subsequent to its military defeat at the battle of Baghuz in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I want to thank the personnel of the UK armed forces participating in this mission for their skill and their valour," he said. "They were part of thousands of British personnel on duty over the holidays. This mission, to eliminate terrorist threats who endanger our safety, shows how British military are always on standby, continuously, keeping Britain secure domestically and influential overseas."
Last December, the United States armed forces conducted what it called a "large-scale strike" against Islamic State objectives in Syria, subsequent to an ambush resulted in the deaths of two US troops and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The UN estimates Islamic State still has an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 combatants in both countries.
