British Air Force Typhoon jets have conducted a mission with French aircraft in a coordinated attack against an hidden munitions depot in Syrian territory employed by the Islamic State group (IS), per a report from the British defence ministry.
The location, pinpointed through reconnaissance, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the announcement noted, and was located in hills just above Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"The RAF jets used precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to strike a several entry passages down to the facility... preliminary assessments indicate the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no indication of any harm to civilians in the attack conducted Saturday night and all the aircraft returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon fighters were backed up by a Voyager tanker plane.
IS - alternatively referred to as Daesh - enforced militant control over significant areas in Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This strike shows our UK leadership, and resolve to work closely with allied nations, to eliminate any re-emergence of IS and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the area," Britain's Defence Chief John Healey said.
RAF aircraft have conducted overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "prevent any efforts to regroup" of the group following its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the MoD reported.
"I must thank the personnel of our armed forces involved in this mission for their professionalism and their bravery," he added. "Including them were a great many British troops stationed over the holidays. This operation, to remove terrorist threats who endanger our security, shows how UK forces are prepared to act, continuously, ensuring Britain's security at home and influential overseas."
During December, the United States armed forces conducted what it described as a "massive strike" against Islamic State objectives in the country, after an ambush claimed the lives of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The UN says IS still boasts an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 militants in both countries.
