British Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with France's air force in a coordinated attack targeting an subterranean weapons facility in Syrian territory employed by the Daesh militant organization, according to the UK's MoD.
The location, identified by intelligence, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the announcement noted, and was located in hills just above Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our aircraft used laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," the ministry announced.
There was no evidence of any harm to civilians in the attack on Saturday evening and each participating jet returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon fighters were assisted by a Voyager tanker plane.
The Islamic State group - referred to as ISIS - established militant control over large swathes of Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This strike demonstrates our UK leadership, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners, to eliminate any re-emergence of Daesh and their violent and radical beliefs in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary the Defence Secretary stated.
UK warplanes have performed overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "forestall any attempted comeback" of the group following its military defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I must thank every member of British forces involved in this mission for their skill and their bravery," the Defence Secretary commented. "Including them were a great many UK service members stationed over the holidays. This action, to remove dangerous terrorists who threaten our way of life, highlights how our armed forces are prepared to act, all year round, protecting the UK domestically and powerful internationally."
Last December, the US military carried out what it called a "large-scale strike" targeting Islamic State objectives in Syria, subsequent to an ambush resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian interpreter in the Palmyra area.
The United Nations reports IS still maintains between 5,000 and 7,000 militants in both countries.
