U.K. and French warplanes carried out an airstrike in central Syria on an underground facility where ISIL members are suspected to have stored weapons and explosives, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday.
The strikes occurred late on Jan. 3 on the structure in the mountains just north of the historic town of Palmyra in the country’s Homs province, the ministry's statement said.
Britain and France are part of the U.S.-led coalition that has been fighting ISIL members for more than a decade.
The ministry said the British military used Typhoon FGR4 fighter jets supported by a Voyager refueling tanker and were joined by French aircraft in the joint strike. The British air force used Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility, the statement said, adding that while a detailed assessment is now underway, initial indications are “that the target was engaged successfully.”
“This action shows our U.K. leadership, and determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to stamp out any resurgence” of ISIL and its “violent ideologies” in the Middle East, said Defense Secretary John Healey.
There was no immediate comment from Syria’s government on the strikes. Syria joined the anti-ISIL coalition late last year.
Despite its defeat in Syria in 2019, ISIL sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq where the extremists once declared their caliphate. U.N. experts say ISIL still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former stronghold in Syria and Iraq.
Last month, the Trump administration launched military strikes in Syria to “eliminate” ISIL fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack near Palmyra that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter days earlier.
