Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have operated alongside French aircraft in a combined operation against an underground arms cache in Syrian territory operated by the Daesh militant organization, according to the British defence ministry.
The facility, pinpointed through intelligence, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the release indicated, and was located in mountainous terrain just north of the historic site of Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our aircraft employed laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a several access tunnels down to the depot... early reports suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no indication of any civilian impact in the operation on Saturday evening and each participating jet returned safely, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon FGR4s were backed up by a Voyager tanker plane.
IS - referred to as the so-called Islamic State - established jihadist rule over large swathes of Iraq and Syria before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This operation underscores our UK leadership, and commitment to operate in unison with our allies, to eliminate any resurgence of the terrorist group and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary John Healey remarked.
UK warplanes have conducted patrols over Syrian airspace to "deter any attempted resurgence" of IS subsequent to its military defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the ministry said.
"I want to thank all the members of British forces participating in this strike for their expertise and their bravery," he said. "They were among a great many British troops stationed over the holidays. This operation, to eliminate terrorist threats who endanger our security, shows how our armed forces are prepared to act, throughout the year, protecting the UK at home and powerful internationally."
Last December, the United States armed forces carried out what it described as a "massive strike" on Islamic State objectives in the country, after an ambush claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The U.N. estimates Daesh still maintains between 5,000 and 7,000 combatants in Syria and Iraq.
