British Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with France's air force in a joint strike against an subterranean weapons facility in Syrian territory operated by the Daesh militant organization, according to the British defence ministry.
The location, pinpointed through surveillance, was thought to be storing arms and explosives, the announcement noted, and was positioned in mountains just above the historic site of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our aircraft employed Paveway IV guided bombs to target a series of entry passages providing entry to the depot... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no indication of any civilian casualties in the strike late on Saturday and all the aircraft made a safe return, the MoD added.
The Typhoon FGR4s were assisted by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
Daesh - referred to as the so-called Islamic State - established extremist governance over large swathes of Iraq and Syria prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike demonstrates British leadership, and commitment to work closely with our allies, to stamp out any revival of IS and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary John Healey remarked.
UK warplanes have carried out surveillance missions over Syrian airspace to "prevent any attempted comeback" of Islamic State subsequent to its defeat at the battle of Baghuz in the year 2019, the ministry said.
"I must thank every member of British forces participating in this strike for their skill and their courage," Healey added. "Including them were a great many UK service members on duty over Christmas and New Year. This mission, to eliminate terrorist threats who pose a risk to our way of life, shows how UK forces are ready to step up, all year round, keeping Britain secure within its borders and influential overseas."
During December, the American forces carried out what it termed a "large-scale strike" on IS targets in the country, after an assault claimed the lives of two American soldiers and a local interpreter in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. estimates Daesh still maintains roughly 5-7 thousand militants in Iraq and Syria.
