British Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with French warplanes in a joint strike on an hidden munitions depot in Syria operated by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the UK Ministry of Defence.
The facility, located using reconnaissance, was believed to be storing arms and explosives, the release indicated, and was situated in mountainous terrain just north of the ancient city of Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"Our fighter planes utilized precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to strike a series of approach shafts down to the depot... early reports indicate the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no indication of any civilian impact in the strike late on Saturday and all the aircraft returned to base without incident, the ministry further stated.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
Daesh - referred to as Daesh - enforced jihadist rule over large swathes of Iraq and Syria until 2019.
"This strike shows our UK leadership, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to stamp out any revival of Daesh and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," Britain's Defence Chief John Healey remarked.
British military aircraft have conducted surveillance missions over Syrian airspace to "deter any attempted comeback" of IS following its military defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I extend gratitude to all the members of the UK armed forces involved in this operation for their professionalism and their courage," he said. "They were part of numerous UK service members deployed over the holidays. This action, to remove terrorist threats who threaten our security, demonstrates how our armed forces are prepared to act, throughout the year, protecting the UK within its borders and influential overseas."
During December, the American forces conducted what it called a "major assault" on IS targets in Syria, after an assault resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The U.N. reports Daesh still has roughly 5-7 thousand militants in Iraq and Syria.
