Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have joined forces with French warplanes in a coordinated attack on an hidden munitions depot in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), per a report from the British defence ministry.
The location, identified by surveillance, was assessed as containing munitions and bombs, the announcement noted, and was situated in hills just north of Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to hit a several approach shafts down to the site... early reports are that the objective was successfully hit," the ministry announced.
There was no evidence of any harm to civilians in the strike late on Saturday and all the aircraft returned safely, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
The Islamic State group - referred to as Daesh - imposed jihadist rule over parts of both Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This action shows the UK's leading role, and determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners, to stamp out any re-emergence of Daesh and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the region," the British Defence Secretary the minister remarked.
RAF aircraft have conducted overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "prevent any attempted comeback" of IS after its routing at the battle of Baghuz in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I must thank all the members of the UK armed forces involved in this mission for their expertise and their courage," the Defence Secretary commented. "Including them were a great many British troops stationed over the holidays. This mission, to eliminate terrorist threats who threaten our way of life, shows how UK forces are always on standby, continuously, ensuring Britain's security at home and strong abroad."
During December, the American forces carried out what it termed a "large-scale strike" against Islamic State objectives in Syria, subsequent to an assault claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a local interpreter in Palmyra.
The U.N. reports Daesh still has roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in both countries.
