British and French fighter jets saw action in this busy weekend.
On Saturday (3), while the world has its attention focused on the US operation that arrested Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro, European powers moved to strike an ISIS weapons storing facility in Palmyra, Syria.
BBC reported:
“Royal Air Force Typhoon jets have joined French aircraft in a joint strike on an underground arms cache in Syria used by the Islamic State group (IS), the UK Ministry of Defence says.
‘Careful’ intelligence analysis led officials to believe the facility was storing arms and explosives, the statement said, and was in mountains just north of Palmyra, an ancient site in central Syria.
‘Our aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility… initial indications are that the target was engaged successfully’, the MoD said.”
BREAKING:
France and the UK have launched joint airstrikes against an underground ISIS facility near Palmyra, Syria pic.twitter.com/p7YpLVvXzy
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 3, 2026
No harm to civilians has been reportedly detected, and all the aircraft returned safely.
Initial assessment is 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 Daesh and their dangerous and violent ideologies in the Middle East’, UK Defense Secretary John Healey said.”
BREAKING: The UK and France carried out airstrikes on an underground ISIS facility in Syria tonight pic.twitter.com/Cg4AtpTbMS
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) January 3, 2026
RTE reported:
“The British Ministry of Defense said it co-operated with France to strike an underground facility in Syria that had likely been used by the Islamic State group to store weapons.
‘Royal Air Force aircraft have completed successful strikes against Daesh in a joint operation with France’, the ministry said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
‘This facility had been occupied by Daesh, most likely to store weapons and explosives. The area around the facility is devoid of any civilian habitation’, the statement added.”
Read more:
ISIS Inspired Attacks Are Increasing Globally: Why They’re So Hard to Stop
