Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with France's air force in a coordinated attack targeting an underground arms cache in Syria operated by the Islamic State group (IS), per a report from the British defence ministry.
The location, located using surveillance, was assessed as storing arms and explosives, the announcement noted, and was located in mountains just above the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"The RAF jets employed laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a series of access tunnels leading to the facility... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no indication of any civilian casualties in the operation on Saturday evening and each participating jet returned to base without incident, the ministry further stated.
The Typhoon FGR4s were assisted by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
The Islamic State group - referred to as Daesh - established extremist governance over large swathes of Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike underscores our UK leadership, and commitment to work closely with our allies, to eradicate any re-emergence of IS and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the region," Britain's Defence Chief the Defence Secretary stated.
RAF aircraft have performed surveillance missions over Syria to "forestall any attempted comeback" of the group subsequent to its defeat at the battle of Baghuz in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I want to thank every member of the UK armed forces participating in this strike for their professionalism and their valour," Healey commented. "Including them were numerous UK service members stationed over the holidays. This action, to eliminate dangerous terrorists who endanger our safety, shows how our armed forces are always on standby, all year round, ensuring Britain's security domestically and powerful internationally."
Last December, the American forces executed what it called a "large-scale strike" on Daesh sites in Syria, subsequent to an attack claimed the lives of two US troops and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The UN reports IS still maintains roughly 5-7 thousand fighters in Iraq and Syria.
