British Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have joined forces with French aircraft in a joint strike against an subterranean weapons facility in Syria employed by the Daesh militant organization, according to the British defence ministry.
The location, pinpointed through intelligence, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the release indicated, and was positioned in mountainous terrain just above the historic site of Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our fighter planes employed precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to hit a number of access tunnels down to the site... preliminary assessments indicate the objective was successfully hit," the ministry announced.
There was no sign of any civilian impact in the strike late on Saturday and each participating jet returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon FGR4s were supported by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
The Islamic State group - also known as Daesh - imposed militant control over significant areas in Iraq and Syria before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This strike demonstrates British leadership, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to eliminate any revival of IS and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the region," the British Defence Secretary John Healey said.
RAF aircraft have conducted surveillance missions over Syrian airspace to "deter any attempted comeback" of the group after its defeat at the climactic battle in Baghuz in 2019, the ministry said.
"I extend gratitude to the personnel of the UK armed forces participating in this mission for their professionalism and their courage," Healey commented. "They were among thousands of British troops stationed over Christmas and New Year. This action, to take out terrorist threats who threaten our safety, highlights how our armed forces are always on standby, all year round, ensuring Britain's security domestically and strong abroad."
Last December, the United States armed forces carried out what it termed a "large-scale strike" targeting Islamic State objectives in the country, following an attack resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. says Daesh still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
