British and French Warplanes Strike Suspected IS Weapons Facility in Syria

Damascus: British and French warplanes carried out an airstrike in central Syria on an underground facility where members of the Islamic State group are suspected to have stored weapons and explosives, the British defence ministry said Sunday.

The strikes occurred Saturday evening 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 IS militants for more than a decade.

The ministry said the British military used Typhoon FGR4 fighter jets supported by a Voyager refuelling tanker, and were joined by French aircraft in the joint strike.

The British air force used Paveway IV guided bombs to target several 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 UK leadership and determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, to stamp out any resurgence” of IS and its “violent ideologies” in the Middle East, said Defence Secretary John Healey.

There was no immediate comment from Syria’s government on the strikes. Syria joined the anti-IS coalition late last year.

Despite its defeat in Syria in 2019, IS sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq, where the extremists once declared their caliphate. U.N. experts say IS 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” IS 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.

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