Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s have joined forces with French warplanes in a combined operation on an underground arms cache in Syria used by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the UK's MoD.
The facility, located using reconnaissance, was thought to be containing munitions and bombs, the release indicated, and was positioned in mountainous terrain just above Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"The RAF jets used Paveway IV guided bombs to target a series of access tunnels leading to the site... early reports suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no indication of any civilian casualties in the strike on Saturday evening and every plane involved made a safe return, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
The Islamic State group - also known as ISIS - imposed extremist governance over significant areas in Iraq and Syria before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This action demonstrates our UK leadership, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to eliminate any re-emergence of the terrorist group and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," Britain's Defence Chief the minister remarked.
RAF aircraft have performed patrols over Syria to "prevent any attempted comeback" of Islamic State subsequent to its defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank all the members of the UK armed forces participating in this operation for their professionalism and their courage," the Defence Secretary said. "They were part of numerous British troops deployed over Christmas and New Year. This action, to remove terrorist threats who pose a risk to our way of life, highlights how our armed forces are prepared to act, throughout the year, keeping Britain secure domestically and powerful internationally."
Last December, the American forces carried out what it termed a "large-scale strike" on IS targets in the country, subsequent to an attack claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a local interpreter in Palmyra.
The UN estimates Daesh still has roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in both countries.
