British Air Force Typhoon jets have joined forces with French warplanes in a joint strike on an hidden munitions depot in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the UK Ministry of Defence.
The facility, identified by intelligence, was thought to be storing arms and explosives, the announcement noted, and was situated in hills just above Palmyra in Syria's central region.
"Our fighter planes employed Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of approach shafts leading to the facility... preliminary assessments suggest the objective was successfully hit," the MoD said.
There was no sign of any civilian impact in the operation on Saturday evening and all the aircraft returned to base without incident, the defence officials confirmed.
The British jets were supported by a Voyager refuelling tanker.
IS - also known as the so-called Islamic State - imposed militant control over parts of both Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This operation shows the UK's leading role, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to stamp out any resurgence of IS and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the Middle East," UK Defence Secretary John Healey said.
British military aircraft have conducted overwatch operations over Syria to "prevent any attempted resurgence" of Islamic State subsequent to its routing at the battle of Baghuz in the year 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank every member of the UK armed forces participating in this strike for their professionalism and their courage," the Defence Secretary added. "They were among thousands of British personnel on duty over Christmas and New Year. This mission, to eliminate terrorist threats who threaten our safety, shows how UK forces are ready to step up, all year round, protecting the UK within its borders and strong abroad."
In December, the American forces executed what it called a "massive strike" on Daesh sites in Syria, after an ambush killed two American soldiers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. estimates IS still boasts an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
