RAF Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with French warplanes in a combined operation targeting an underground arms cache in Syria used by the Islamic State group (IS), according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The facility, located using surveillance, was assessed as housing weapons and explosive materials, the statement said, and was situated in mountainous terrain just above the ancient city of Palmyra in the heart of Syria.
"The RAF jets employed precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility... preliminary assessments are that the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no evidence of any civilian impact in the attack late on Saturday and each participating jet returned to base without incident, the MoD added.
The Typhoon fighters were backed up by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
IS - alternatively referred to as Daesh - enforced extremist governance over significant areas in Iraq and Syria prior to its 2019 collapse.
"This strike underscores the UK's leading role, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with allied nations, to stamp out any revival of Daesh and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," UK Defence Secretary the minister remarked.
British military aircraft have conducted overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "prevent any efforts to regroup" of the group subsequent to its routing at the climactic battle in Baghuz in the year 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank every member of our armed forces participating in this operation for their skill and their courage," the Defence Secretary commented. "Including them were numerous UK service members on duty over the holidays. This action, to remove terrorist threats who endanger our safety, highlights how British military are always on standby, continuously, ensuring Britain's security at home and powerful internationally."
Last December, the US military conducted what it described as a "massive strike" on Daesh sites in the country, subsequent to an attack claimed the lives of two US troops and a civilian linguist in Palmyra.
The United Nations estimates Islamic State still boasts an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 combatants in Iraq and Syria.
