RAF Typhoon fighter aircraft have operated alongside France's air force in a coordinated attack targeting an hidden munitions depot in Syrian territory employed by the Islamic State group (IS), per a report from the UK Ministry of Defence.
The location, pinpointed through intelligence, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the statement said, and was located in mountainous terrain just above the historic site of Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes used laser-guided Paveway IV weapons to target a series of access tunnels providing entry to the depot... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no evidence of any harm to civilians in the strike on Saturday evening and all the aircraft returned to base without incident, the MoD added.
The British jets were supported by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
IS - referred to as Daesh - established extremist governance over large swathes of both Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This operation shows our UK leadership, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to eliminate any re-emergence of the terrorist group and their violent and radical beliefs in the area," UK Defence Secretary John Healey stated.
British military aircraft have conducted surveillance missions over Syria to "prevent any efforts to regroup" of Islamic State following its defeat at the climactic battle in Baghuz in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I must thank every member of the UK armed forces who took part in this operation for their professionalism and their valour," the Defence Secretary added. "They were among numerous British troops deployed over Christmas and New Year. This mission, to remove dangerous terrorists who threaten our safety, highlights how our armed forces are ready to step up, continuously, protecting the UK within its borders and influential overseas."
In December, the US military carried out what it described as a "massive strike" on Daesh sites in Syria, following an ambush claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. estimates Daesh still maintains roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in Iraq and Syria.
