Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have joined forces with French warplanes in a joint strike targeting an underground arms cache in Syrian territory employed by the Daesh militant organization, per a report from the UK Ministry of Defence.
The site, located using surveillance, was assessed as storing arms and explosives, the release indicated, and was located in hills just above the historic site of Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"The RAF jets utilized laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a series of access tunnels down to the depot... preliminary assessments are that the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no indication of any civilian casualties in the attack conducted Saturday night and each participating jet returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were assisted by a Voyager tanker plane.
The Islamic State group - also known as ISIS - established militant control over large swathes of Iraq and Syria before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This operation underscores our UK leadership, and determination to operate in unison with allied nations, to stamp out any resurgence of IS and their violent and radical beliefs in the area," UK Defence Secretary the Defence Secretary remarked.
UK warplanes have conducted surveillance missions over Syria to "prevent any attempted comeback" of IS after its defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in the year 2019, the ministry said.
"I extend gratitude to the personnel of our armed forces participating in this operation for their expertise and their valour," he added. "Including them were thousands of British troops deployed over Christmas and New Year. This mission, to remove dangerous terrorists who pose a risk to our security, demonstrates how British military are ready to step up, all year round, protecting the UK at home and influential overseas."
In December, the United States armed forces conducted what it termed a "massive strike" targeting Islamic State objectives in Syria, following an attack resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian interpreter in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. says Daesh still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
