Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s have operated alongside French aircraft in a coordinated attack targeting an underground arms cache in Syria used by the Daesh militant organization, per a report from the UK Ministry of Defence.
The location, identified by reconnaissance, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the release indicated, and was located in mountainous terrain just to the north of the historic site of Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our aircraft used precision-guided Paveway IV munitions to strike a number of access tunnels leading to the depot... early reports indicate the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.
There was no sign of any civilian casualties in the operation late on Saturday and all the aircraft made a safe return, the defence officials confirmed.
The Typhoon fighters were backed up by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
The Islamic State group - referred to as Daesh - enforced extremist governance over significant areas in Syria and Iraq until 2019.
"This operation demonstrates our UK leadership, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to stamp out any resurgence of Daesh and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the region," Britain's Defence Chief John Healey stated.
UK warplanes have performed patrols over Syria to "forestall any efforts to regroup" of Islamic State following its routing at the battle of Baghuz in 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank the personnel of our armed forces who took part in this mission for their expertise and their valour," the Defence Secretary commented. "They were among a great many UK service members on duty over the holidays. This action, to remove militants who pose a risk to our safety, demonstrates how our armed forces are always on standby, all year round, protecting the UK domestically and strong abroad."
In December, the American forces conducted what it termed a "massive strike" against Daesh sites in the country, subsequent to an assault killed two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The U.N. says Islamic State still maintains an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 militants in Iraq and Syria.
