British Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have joined forces with French warplanes in a joint strike against an underground arms cache 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 release indicated, and was positioned in mountains just north of the historic site of Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our fighter planes used laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to hit a series of approach shafts providing entry to the facility... preliminary assessments indicate the strike was effective," the ministry announced.
There was no sign of any harm to civilians in the attack late on Saturday and every plane involved returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
IS - referred to as ISIS - enforced extremist governance over parts of both Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This strike underscores our UK leadership, and commitment to work closely with our allies, to eliminate any resurgence of Daesh and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," Britain's Defence Chief the Defence Secretary remarked.
UK warplanes have performed overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "prevent any efforts to regroup" of IS following its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the ministry said.
"I want to thank every member of our armed forces who took part in this strike for their professionalism and their valour," the Defence Secretary commented. "Including them were a great many British troops deployed over the holidays. This action, to remove terrorist threats who threaten our way of life, shows how UK forces are prepared to act, continuously, keeping Britain secure domestically and powerful internationally."
Last December, the American forces conducted what it called a "major assault" against Islamic State objectives in the country, subsequent to an attack resulted in the deaths of two American soldiers and a local interpreter in Palmyra.
The U.N. says Islamic State still boasts an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 militants in Syria and Iraq.
