British Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with French warplanes in a coordinated attack on an underground arms cache in Syrian territory employed by the Daesh militant organization, per a report from the UK Ministry of Defence.
The location, pinpointed through surveillance, was thought to be storing arms and explosives, the statement said, and was located in hills just above the historic site of Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our fighter planes utilized laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a number of approach shafts down to the facility... preliminary assessments indicate the target was engaged successfully," officials stated.
There was no evidence of any civilian casualties in the operation late on Saturday and each participating jet returned safely, the MoD added.
The Typhoon fighters were supported by a Voyager tanker plane.
IS - referred to as the so-called Islamic State - established extremist governance over large swathes of both Syria and Iraq until 2019.
"This operation shows our UK leadership, and determination to work closely with our allies, to stamp out any resurgence of the terrorist group and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary John Healey remarked.
RAF aircraft have carried out surveillance missions over Syrian airspace to "forestall any efforts to regroup" of IS subsequent to its military defeat at the climactic battle in Baghuz in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank all the members of the UK armed forces who took part in this mission for their expertise and their valour," the Defence Secretary commented. "Including them were numerous British troops deployed over the holidays. This operation, to eliminate militants who threaten our way of life, highlights how our armed forces are prepared to act, throughout the year, keeping Britain secure at home and influential overseas."
During December, the American forces executed what it called a "massive strike" on IS targets in Syria, after an ambush claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. estimates Islamic State still has roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in Syria and Iraq.
