Coordinated British-French Air Strike Targets Daesh Arms Cache in the Syrian region

Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with French aircraft in a combined operation on an underground arms cache in Syrian territory operated by the Islamic State group (IS), as stated by the British defence ministry.

The facility, located using surveillance, was believed to be containing munitions and bombs, the release indicated, and was located in mountains just above the historic site of Palmyra in central Syria.

"Our fighter planes used Paveway IV guided bombs to hit a number of access tunnels providing entry to the facility... preliminary assessments are that the objective was successfully hit," officials stated.

There was no sign of any harm to civilians in the attack on Saturday evening and every plane involved made a safe return, the defence officials confirmed.

The British jets were assisted by a Voyager tanker plane.

The Islamic State group - also known as ISIS - established militant control over parts of Syria and Iraq prior to its 2019 collapse.

"This strike shows our UK leadership, and commitment to work closely with our partners, to eliminate any resurgence of the terrorist group and their harmful and extremist ideologies in the area," Britain's Defence Chief the Defence Secretary stated.

RAF aircraft have conducted overwatch operations over Syrian airspace to "prevent any efforts to regroup" of the group subsequent to its defeat at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the ministry said.

"I extend gratitude to all the members of British forces who took part in this mission for their professionalism and their bravery," Healey added. "Including them were thousands of British troops deployed over Christmas and New Year. This mission, to remove militants who pose a risk to our security, demonstrates how our armed forces are always on standby, all year round, protecting the UK within its borders and powerful internationally."

During December, the US military carried out what it called a "large-scale strike" on Islamic State objectives in Syria, subsequent to an attack killed two US troops and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra.

The United Nations says Daesh still has roughly 5-7 thousand militants in Syria and Iraq.