The United States says its military has carried out a large-scale airstrike operation against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, in response to a deadly attack on American forces in the country.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery struck more than 70 IS targets across several locations in central Syria. Jordanian aircraft also participated in the operation.
According to US officials, over 100 precision-guided munitions were used to destroy identified IS infrastructure and weapons sites.
President Donald Trump said the strikes would be “very intense” following an IS ambush near the historic city of Palmyra on December 13.
CENTCOM said the operation, codenamed the Hawkeye strike, was launched at 4.00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday. The command, which oversees US military operations across Europe, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific, said the attacks were aimed at preventing further assaults on US and allied forces.
“The United States will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners throughout the region,” said CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the operation as “not the beginning of a war, but a declaration of vengeance.”
“If you target Americans anywhere in the world, you can live the rest of your short, anxious lives knowing that the United States will hunt you down, find you, and kill you mercilessly,” Hegseth said, adding, “Today, we hunted and killed our enemies. Many of our enemies. We will continue to do so.”
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said the United States would take “very severe revenge” against the “murderous terrorists” responsible for the attack and claimed that the Syrian government would fully support the US response.
Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said IS positions near the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor were targeted in the strikes. It reported that a senior IS leader and several fighters were killed.
The Islamic State group has not publicly commented on the strikes.
In 2019, a US-backed coalition announced that IS had lost the last territory it controlled in Syria. However, the group has continued to carry out sporadic attacks. The United Nations estimates that IS still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters operating in Syria and Iraq.
US troops have been deployed in Syria since 2015, primarily to train local forces and support international efforts to combat the Islamic State.
