Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have joined forces with France's air force in a joint strike targeting an underground arms cache in Syria used by the Daesh militant organization, as stated by the British defence ministry.
The site, located using surveillance, was thought to be storing arms and explosives, the statement said, and was situated in mountains just above the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our aircraft utilized laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to strike a several entry passages providing entry to the facility... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no evidence of any harm to civilians in the operation on Saturday evening and every plane involved returned safely, the MoD added.
The Typhoon FGR4s were supported by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
Daesh - also known as Daesh - enforced militant control over parts of both Syria and Iraq until 2019.
"This strike shows the UK's leading role, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with allied nations, to eliminate any revival of IS and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," Britain's Defence Chief the Defence Secretary said.
UK warplanes have conducted overwatch operations over Syria to "deter any efforts to regroup" of IS following its military defeat at the battle of Baghuz in 2019, the ministry said.
"I want to thank all the members of the UK armed forces participating in this strike for their expertise and their valour," the Defence Secretary commented. "Including them were thousands of UK service members deployed over the holidays. This operation, to remove dangerous terrorists who threaten our safety, demonstrates how British military are always on standby, continuously, ensuring Britain's security at home and strong abroad."
During December, the United States armed forces conducted what it termed a "large-scale strike" targeting IS targets in the country, subsequent to an ambush resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The UN says Islamic State still has an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 militants in Syria and Iraq.
