British Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have joined forces with French aircraft in a combined operation against an subterranean weapons facility in Syrian territory employed by the Daesh militant organization, as stated by the UK's MoD.
The facility, located using intelligence, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the statement said, and was located in mountains just north of the historic site of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes employed precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to hit a number of approach shafts leading to the site... initial indications are that the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no sign of any harm to civilians in the operation conducted Saturday night and every plane involved returned safely, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
IS - referred to as Daesh - enforced extremist governance over parts of Iraq and Syria prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike shows British leadership, and resolve to operate in unison with our allies, to eradicate any revival of IS and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," the British Defence Secretary the minister stated.
British military aircraft have performed overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "forestall any attempted resurgence" of IS following its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank the personnel of our armed forces participating in this mission for their professionalism and their bravery," he added. "They were among a great many British personnel deployed over Christmas and New Year. This action, to take out militants who threaten our way of life, demonstrates how UK forces are prepared to act, throughout the year, ensuring Britain's security domestically and powerful internationally."
Last December, the American forces executed what it described as a "major assault" targeting Daesh sites in Syria, after an attack resulted in the deaths of two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter in the Palmyra area.
The United Nations estimates IS still maintains roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in Iraq and Syria.
