A US-led coalition has been executing airstrikes and ground missions in Syria aimed at Islamic State suspects in recent months, frequently collaborating with Syria’s security forces.
President Donald Trump promised retaliation after a suspected ISIS attack resulted in the deaths of U.S. personnel last weekend in Syria.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the strikes focused on “ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites,” characterizing the operation as “OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE.”
“This is not the start of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth remarked. “Today, we hunted and eliminated our enemies. Many of them. And we will persist,” he added.
Trump expressed on social media that the Syrian government fully endorsed the strikes, asserting that the US was delivering “very serious retaliation.”
In a speech in North Carolina on Friday night, Trump referred to it as a “massive” blow to the ISIS members responsible for the Dec. 13 attack on coalition forces.
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“We targeted the ISIS thugs in Syria. … It was highly successful,” Trump stated at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
US Central Command reported that the strikes impacted more than 70 targets throughout central Syria, noting that Jordanian fighter jets assisted in the operation.
A US official indicated that the strikes were executed by US F-15 and A-10 jets, alongside Apache helicopters and HIMARS rocket systems.
The Syrian government reiterated its unwavering dedication to combating Islamic State and ensuring that there are “no safe havens on Syrian territory,” as stated by the foreign ministry.
Two US Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed on Saturday in the central Syrian town of Palmyra when an attacker targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the US military. Three additional U.S. soldiers sustained injuries in the attack.
Approximately 1,000 U.S. troops remain stationed in Syria.
The Syrian Interior Ministry described the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces who is suspected of sympathizing with the Islamic State.
Syria’s government is comprised of former rebels who ousted leader Bashar al-Assad last year following a 13-year civil war, including members of Syria’s former Al Qaeda faction who distanced themselves from the group and clashed with the Islamic State.
Syria has been collaborating with a US-led coalition against Islamic State, having reached an agreement last month when President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House.
