Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s have joined forces with French warplanes in a coordinated attack targeting an underground arms cache in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), according to the British defence ministry.
The facility, pinpointed through reconnaissance, was thought to be housing weapons and explosive materials, the statement said, and was positioned in mountains just above the historic site of Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"Our aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of entry passages providing entry to the site... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no evidence of any civilian casualties in the attack late on Saturday and each participating jet returned to base without incident, the ministry further stated.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
Daesh - referred to as the so-called Islamic State - established extremist governance over significant areas in Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This action demonstrates our UK leadership, and resolve to operate in unison with our partners, to eliminate any resurgence of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary the minister said.
British military aircraft have performed overwatch operations over Syria to "deter any attempted comeback" of Islamic State subsequent to its military defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I extend gratitude to every member of the UK armed forces who took part in this mission for their professionalism and their courage," he added. "They were among thousands of British troops deployed over the holidays. This action, to take out terrorist threats who threaten our safety, shows how British military are always on standby, all year round, protecting the UK at home and powerful internationally."
During December, the American forces conducted what it termed a "massive strike" against Islamic State objectives in the country, after an attack claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. reports Daesh still maintains an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 combatants in Syria and Iraq.
