British Air Force Typhoon FGR4s have conducted a mission with French warplanes in a coordinated attack against an subterranean weapons facility in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.
The location, located using reconnaissance, was assessed as storing arms and explosives, the statement said, and was situated in mountains just north of Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"Our aircraft employed precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to target a number of entry passages providing entry to the site... preliminary assessments suggest the strike was effective," the MoD said.
There was no evidence of any civilian casualties in the operation late on Saturday and every plane involved made a safe return, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon fighters were backed up by a Voyager tanker plane.
IS - referred to as ISIS - enforced jihadist rule over significant areas in Iraq and Syria prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike underscores the UK's leading role, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to eliminate any revival of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," the British Defence Secretary John Healey remarked.
RAF aircraft have conducted overwatch operations over Syria to "deter any efforts to regroup" of IS after its routing at the battle of Baghuz in the year 2019, the ministry said.
"I must thank all the members of the UK armed forces involved in this mission for their skill and their bravery," Healey commented. "Including them were thousands of UK service members deployed over the festive period. This action, to take out terrorist threats who pose a risk to our way of life, shows how UK forces are prepared to act, throughout the year, ensuring Britain's security within its borders and powerful internationally."
In December, the American forces conducted what it termed a "large-scale strike" on Islamic State objectives in Syria, subsequent to an ambush claimed the lives of two American soldiers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The U.N. reports IS still has between 5,000 and 7,000 combatants in Iraq and Syria.
