British Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with French warplanes in a coordinated attack targeting an subterranean weapons facility in Syria used by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.
The facility, identified by intelligence, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the announcement noted, and was positioned in mountains just to the north of Palmyra in central Syria.
"The RAF jets utilized Paveway IV guided bombs to hit a several approach shafts providing entry to the site... initial indications indicate the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no sign of any harm to civilians in the strike conducted Saturday night and every plane involved made a safe return, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon fighters were assisted by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
Daesh - alternatively referred to as ISIS - enforced militant control over parts of Syria and Iraq until 2019.
"This strike shows our UK leadership, and determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners, to stamp out any resurgence of IS and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the region," UK Defence Secretary John Healey stated.
British military aircraft have carried out patrols over Syrian airspace to "forestall any attempted resurgence" of IS after its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I must thank the personnel of our armed forces involved in this operation for their skill and their courage," he commented. "Including them were numerous UK service members deployed over the festive period. This mission, to take out dangerous terrorists who endanger our security, demonstrates how British military are ready to step up, throughout the year, keeping Britain secure within its borders and strong abroad."
Last December, the American forces executed what it described as a "massive strike" targeting IS targets in Syria, following an ambush resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The U.N. says IS still has roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in both countries.
