The United States has unleashed what it calls a “massive strike” against Islamic State targets in Syria, following a deadly ambush that killed two US soldiers and an American civilian interpreter earlier this month.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the operation saw fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery strike more than 70 targets across central Syria, with aircraft from Jordan also taking part. The strikes, which targeted known IS infrastructure and weapons sites, involved more than 100 precision-guided munitions.
President Donald Trump said the US was hitting IS “very strongly”, describing the action as direct retaliation for the 13 December attack in the historic city of Palmyra.
In a statement posted on X, Centcom said Operation Hawkeye Strike was launched at 16:00 Eastern Time (21:00 GMT) on Friday. The command oversees American military operations across the Middle East, north-east Africa, and parts of Asia.
Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the message to extremists was unmistakable. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region,” he said.
According to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least five IS fighters were killed in the strikes in Syria’s eastern Deir ez Zor province. Among them, he said, was the leader of a cell responsible for deploying drones in the area.
Jordan confirmed its involvement in the operation. Petra, the country’s state-run news agency, said the Royal Jordanian Air Force had taken part in order to prevent extremist groups from threatening the security of Syria’s neighbours and the wider region.
IS has not commented publicly, and the reports said it was unable to independently verify the targets struck.
The language from Washington has been uncompromising. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation was “not the beginning of a war, it is a declaration of vengeance.”
“If you target Americans, anywhere in the world, you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you,” he said. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”
Posting on Truth Social, President Trump said the US was delivering “very serious retaliation” against the militants responsible for the Palmyra attack, adding that the Syrian government was “fully in support” of the strikes.
Centcom previously said the Palmyra ambush was carried out by an IS gunman, who was later engaged and killed. Three other US soldiers were injured. A Pentagon official said the attack took place in an area not under the control of Syria’s president.
However, the SOHR has disputed that account, claiming the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces. No group has claimed responsibility, and the gunman’s identity has not been released.
Although IS lost the last territory it controlled in Syria in 2019, after a US-backed alliance of Syrian fighters declared victory, the group has continued to mount attacks. The United Nations estimates IS still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters operating across Syria and Iraq.
US troops have remained in Syria since 2015, training local forces as part of the international campaign against the jihadist group. Syria has recently joined a global coalition to combat IS and has pledged to co-operate with the US.
The strikes come amid a thaw in relations between Washington and Damascus. In November, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist leader whose coalition toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024, met President Trump at the White House, describing the visit as the start of a “new era” between the two countries.
