Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with France's air force in a coordinated attack against an hidden munitions depot in Syria used by the Daesh militant organization, per a report from the UK's MoD.
The location, located using intelligence, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the release indicated, and was located in mountains just to the north of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes utilized precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to hit a series of access tunnels leading to the depot... early reports suggest the strike was effective," officials stated.
There was no indication of any civilian impact in the strike on Saturday evening and every plane involved made a safe return, the MoD added.
The Typhoon FGR4s were supported by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
Daesh - also known as Daesh - established extremist governance over significant areas in Iraq and Syria prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This operation demonstrates the UK's leading role, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to eliminate any revival of IS and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," UK Defence Secretary John Healey remarked.
RAF aircraft have carried out patrols over Syria to "deter any attempted resurgence" of IS following its military defeat at the climactic battle in Baghuz in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I extend gratitude to the personnel of British forces who took part in this strike for their expertise and their bravery," he said. "They were among a great many UK service members deployed over Christmas and New Year. This operation, to eliminate terrorist threats who threaten our way of life, shows how our armed forces are prepared to act, continuously, protecting the UK within its borders and influential overseas."
Last December, the American forces conducted what it described as a "large-scale strike" targeting Islamic State objectives in Syria, after an attack killed two US troops and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. says Daesh still has roughly 5-7 thousand militants in Syria and Iraq.
