British Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with French aircraft in a joint strike on an subterranean weapons facility in Syrian territory used by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.
The facility, pinpointed through reconnaissance, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the announcement noted, and was located in hills just north of the historic site of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes used laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to strike a series of approach shafts down to the facility... preliminary assessments indicate the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no evidence of any civilian impact in the operation late on Saturday and every plane involved returned safely, the ministry further stated.
The British jets were assisted by a Voyager tanker plane.
Daesh - also known as Daesh - enforced militant control over parts of both Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike shows the UK's leading role, and commitment to work closely with allied nations, to stamp out any re-emergence of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," Britain's Defence Chief the minister stated.
British military aircraft have conducted patrols over Syrian airspace to "prevent any attempted resurgence" of IS after its routing at the battle of Baghuz in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I must thank the personnel of our armed forces who took part in this strike for their professionalism and their courage," Healey said. "They were among numerous British troops on duty over Christmas and New Year. This operation, to eliminate terrorist threats who endanger our security, demonstrates how our armed forces are ready to step up, all year round, ensuring Britain's security domestically and strong abroad."
In December, the US military carried out what it termed a "massive strike" targeting Islamic State objectives in the country, after an ambush claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The UN reports IS still has between 5,000 and 7,000 combatants in Syria and Iraq.
