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THE United States military carried out extensive strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets across Syria on Friday, retaliating for a recent attack that killed American personnel, U.S. officials said.
The operation followed an incident last weekend in which two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in the central Syrian town of Palmyra.
According to the U.S. military, the attacker targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead. Three other U.S. soldiers were wounded in the assault, Reuters reported on Saturday,
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes focused on Islamic State fighters and infrastructure and were conducted under the name “OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE.”
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”
President Donald Trump had earlier vowed retaliation after the suspected Islamic State attack. Writing on social media, he said the Syrian government fully supported the U.S. action and that Washington was delivering “very serious retaliation.”
A U.S. official said the operation struck more than 70 targets across central Syria and involved F-15 and A-10 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters and HIMARS rocket systems.
The strikes build on months of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and ground operations against Islamic State militants in Syria, often conducted in coordination with Syrian security forces. Around 1,000 U.S. troops remain deployed in the country.
Syria’s Interior Ministry described the attacker in Palmyra as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathising with Islamic State.
In a statement, Syria’s foreign ministry reaffirmed the government’s commitment to combating the militant group and ensuring it has “no safe havens on Syrian territory.”
Syria is now governed by a leadership formed by former rebel groups that ousted long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad last year after a 13-year civil war. The current government includes figures from Syria’s former Al Qaeda branch, which later broke away and fought Islamic State.
Damascus has continued cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, including through an agreement reached last month during a visit to the White House by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. - December 20, 2025