Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have operated alongside French warplanes in a coordinated attack against an subterranean weapons facility in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), per a report from the British defence ministry.
The location, pinpointed through intelligence, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the statement said, and was situated in mountainous terrain just to the north of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our aircraft employed Paveway IV guided bombs to hit a series of approach shafts providing entry to the depot... preliminary assessments are that the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no sign of any civilian impact in the operation conducted Saturday night and all the aircraft returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were supported by a Voyager tanker plane.
The Islamic State group - referred to as Daesh - established extremist governance over parts of both Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This operation demonstrates the UK's leading role, and resolve to operate in unison with allied nations, to eliminate any revival of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," the British Defence Secretary the Defence Secretary stated.
UK warplanes have carried out surveillance missions over Syria to "prevent any attempted resurgence" of Islamic State following its defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the ministry said.
"I want to thank the personnel of the UK armed forces participating in this strike for their skill and their valour," he said. "They were among a great many UK service members stationed over the festive period. This operation, to remove dangerous terrorists who endanger our safety, shows how our armed forces are ready to step up, all year round, keeping Britain secure within its borders and influential overseas."
During December, the American forces conducted what it termed a "large-scale strike" on Islamic State objectives in the country, subsequent to an ambush killed two American soldiers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The United Nations says Islamic State still has roughly 5-7 thousand militants in both countries.
