DAMASCUS, Syria — British and French warplanes carried out an airstrike in central Syria on an underground facility the place members of the Islamic State group are suspected to have saved weapons and explosives, the British protection ministry stated Sunday.
The strikes occurred Saturday night on the construction within the mountains simply north of the historic city of Palmyra within the nation’s Homs province, the ministry’s assertion stated.
Britain and France are a part of the U.S.-led coalition that has been combating IS militants for greater than a decade.
The ministry stated the British army used Hurricane FGR4 fighter jets supported by a Voyager refueling tanker and had been joined by French plane within the joint strike. The British air power used Paveway IV guided bombs to focus on a variety of entry tunnels all the way down to the ability, the assertion stated, including that whereas an in depth evaluation is now underway, preliminary indications are “that the goal was engaged efficiently.”
“This motion exhibits our UK management, and dedication to face shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to stamp out any resurgence” of IS and its “violent ideologies” within the Center East, stated Protection Secretary John Healey.
There was no speedy remark from Syria’s authorities on the strikes. Syria joined the anti-IS coalition late final yr.
Regardless of its defeat in Syria in 2019, IS sleeper cells nonetheless perform lethal assaults in Syria and Iraq the place the extremists as soon as declared their caliphate. U.N. consultants say IS still commands between 5,000 and seven,000 members throughout its former stronghold in Syria and Iraq.
Final month, the Trump administration launched military strikes in Syria to “remove” IS fighters and weapons websites in retaliation for an ambush attack close to Palmyra that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter days earlier.
