The U.S. military launched a strike against ISIS in Syria, hitting over 70 locations in central Syria. This was payback for a recent attack that killed Americans. It shows the U.S. is serious about protecting its people and allies.
Operation Hawkeye Strike: What Went Down
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, helicopters, and artillery were involved. Jordan helped with planes. They dropped over 100 bombs on ISIS hideouts, weapons storage, and command centers.
President Trump said they were striking very strongly after the ISIS ambush on December 13 in Palmyra. Two U.S. soldiers and an interpreter died in that attack.
Centcom said Operation Hawkeye Strike started at 4:00 PM Eastern Time (9:00 PM GMT) on Friday. Admiral Brad Cooper, who’s in charge at Centcom, said the U.S. will keep going after any terrorists who want to hurt Americans or our friends in the area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least five ISIS fighters died in Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria, including the leader of their drone operations. Jordan’s news agency, Petra, said its air force helped to keep extremist groups from disrupting the region. In Palmyra was Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29. Three other soldiers were hurt. Pentagon officials said the attack happened in an area that the Syrian government doesn’t control. SOHR thinks the attacker might have been connected to Syrian security forces.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the operation was serious retaliation against the murderous terrorists. He also claimed that the Syrian government was fully supportive. Centcom said they took out the gunman who was responsible for the Palmyra attack
U.S. Says It’s Serious About Fighting Terror
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike was like payback. He warned that anyone who targets Americans will be hunted down. He said, “Today, we hunted and killed our enemies.” Lots of them. And we will continue.
U.S. troops have been in SU.S. troops have been in Syria since 2015 to train local forces and fight ISIS. Although ISIS lost its last territory in Syria in 2019, it still launches attacks. The UN estimates there are 5,000 to 7,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq. The fight against ISIS and promised to work with the U.S. Last November, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who used to be a jihadist leader and whose group kicked out Bashar al-Assad in 2024, visited the White House to talk about what he called the state of US-Syria relations
The U.S. strike shows that Washington is determined to fight ISIS and protect its people. With help from countries like Jordan and the Syrian coalition, the strikes are part of a plan to hit back hard while keeping the region stable. Experts say we need to keep an eye on ISIS because they can still launch attacks even though they don’t control any territory anymore.
