Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with French aircraft in a coordinated attack against an underground arms cache in Syria used by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the UK Ministry of Defence.
The site, located using intelligence, was assessed as storing arms and explosives, the announcement noted, and was positioned in mountainous terrain just above Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"Our fighter planes employed laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to hit a number of access tunnels down to the site... initial indications suggest the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no indication of any harm to civilians in the attack conducted Saturday night and each participating jet made a safe return, the ministry further stated.
The Typhoon fighters were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
The Islamic State group - alternatively referred to as Daesh - enforced extremist governance over significant areas in Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike underscores our UK leadership, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to eradicate any re-emergence of IS and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," UK Defence Secretary the minister said.
UK warplanes have conducted surveillance missions over Syria to "forestall any efforts to regroup" of IS subsequent to its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in the year 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank every member of British forces who took part in this operation for their professionalism and their valour," Healey said. "They were among a great many British troops deployed over Christmas and New Year. This mission, to eliminate dangerous terrorists who pose a risk to our security, shows how our armed forces are ready to step up, continuously, protecting the UK at home and influential overseas."
Last December, the US military carried out what it described as a "large-scale strike" against Islamic State objectives in Syria, subsequent to an assault claimed the lives of two US troops and a civilian interpreter in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. reports Daesh still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in both countries.
