Coordinated British-French Airstrike Hits Islamic State Arms Cache in the Syrian region

Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft have conducted a mission with French warplanes in a combined operation targeting an underground arms cache in Syria employed by the Islamic State group (IS), according to the British defence ministry.

The site, located using intelligence, was thought to be storing arms and explosives, the announcement noted, and was situated in hills just north of Palmyra in the heart of Syria.

"Our fighter planes employed Paveway IV guided bombs to hit a series of access tunnels providing entry to the depot... preliminary assessments are that the objective was successfully hit," the ministry announced.

There was no sign of any civilian impact in the attack conducted Saturday night and every plane involved returned to base without incident, the ministry further stated.

The Typhoon FGR4s were assisted by a Voyager refuelling tanker.

Daesh - referred to as Daesh - imposed jihadist rule over parts of Syria and Iraq before its territorial defeat in 2019.

"This action shows British leadership, and commitment to operate in unison with allied nations, to eliminate any resurgence of the terrorist group and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the area," UK Defence Secretary the Defence Secretary remarked.

UK warplanes have carried out surveillance missions over Syrian airspace to "forestall any attempted resurgence" of the group following its routing at the Baghuz confrontation in 2019, the ministry said.

"I must thank all the members of British forces participating in this strike for their professionalism and their valour," the Defence Secretary said. "They were part of numerous British troops stationed over the festive period. This operation, to remove terrorist threats who threaten our way of life, highlights how our armed forces are prepared to act, all year round, keeping Britain secure domestically and influential overseas."

In December, the American forces carried out what it called a "major assault" targeting IS targets in the country, following an assault killed two US servicemembers and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra.

The U.N. says Islamic State still boasts roughly 5-7 thousand militants in both countries.