Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s have joined forces with French warplanes in a coordinated attack targeting an subterranean weapons facility in Syria used by the IS group, per a report from the British defence ministry.
The facility, located using reconnaissance, was thought to be housing weapons and explosive materials, the announcement noted, and was positioned in hills just above Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes employed laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to hit a series of approach shafts providing entry to the facility... initial indications suggest the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no indication of any harm to civilians in the strike on Saturday evening and all the aircraft returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon FGR4s were backed up by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
The Islamic State group - alternatively referred to as ISIS - enforced militant control over large swathes of both Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This operation demonstrates the UK's leading role, and resolve to operate in unison with our allies, to eradicate any revival of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," the British Defence Secretary John Healey said.
UK warplanes have carried out overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "prevent any attempted resurgence" of IS subsequent to its defeat at the climactic battle in Baghuz in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I extend gratitude to all the members of British forces involved in this operation for their skill and their courage," Healey commented. "Including them were numerous UK service members on duty over Christmas and New Year. This action, to take out militants who threaten our safety, highlights how our armed forces are prepared to act, continuously, protecting the UK domestically and powerful internationally."
Last December, the United States armed forces carried out what it called a "large-scale strike" on Daesh sites in Syria, subsequent to an attack claimed the lives of two American soldiers and a local interpreter in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. reports IS still has roughly 5-7 thousand militants in Syria and Iraq.
