British Air Force Typhoon jets have joined forces with French warplanes in a joint strike on an subterranean weapons facility in Syrian territory employed by the IS group, according to the British defence ministry.
The location, located using intelligence, was believed to be housing weapons and explosive materials, the statement said, and was positioned in mountainous terrain just above Palmyra in central Syria.
"Our fighter planes utilized Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of access tunnels leading to the site... initial indications are that 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 made a safe return, the ministry further stated.
The British jets were backed up by a Voyager aerial refuelling aircraft.
The Islamic State group - alternatively referred to as Daesh - enforced extremist governance over large swathes of Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.
"This strike underscores British leadership, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with allied nations, to eliminate any revival of Daesh and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East," Britain's Defence Chief John Healey remarked.
British military aircraft have performed surveillance missions over Syria to "deter any efforts to regroup" of Islamic State following its routing at the battle of Baghuz in the year 2019, the authorities noted.
"I want to thank the personnel of the UK armed forces involved in this mission for their skill and their bravery," Healey said. "Including them were thousands of British personnel deployed over Christmas and New Year. This action, to take out terrorist threats who pose a risk to our safety, shows how British military are always on standby, all year round, keeping Britain secure at home and influential overseas."
In December, the American forces conducted what it called a "massive strike" on Daesh sites in the country, subsequent to an assault resulted in the deaths of two US servicemembers and a civilian linguist in the Palmyra area.
The UN says Islamic State still has roughly 5-7 thousand combatants in both countries.
