The United States said its forces had launched a “large-scale attack” against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria in response to a deadly attack on U.S. troops stationed in Syria.
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “hit more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria.” Aircraft from Jordan also participated.
The operation targeted known IS infrastructure and weapons sites and “used more than 100 precision munitions,” it said.
US President Donald Trump said “we are striking very hard” on IS strongholds following the December 13 ambush in Palmyra that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter.
Centcom, which directs U.S. military operations in Europe, Africa and the Indo-Pacific, said in a statement to
“The United States will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm the United States and our partners in the region,” said Central Command Commander Brad Cooper.
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told AFP that “at least five Islamic State (IS) members have been killed” in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, including the leader of the group responsible for drones in the region.
IS did not comment publicly. The BBC could not immediately identify the subject.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “This operation is not the start of a war, but a declaration of revenge.”
“If you target an American anywhere in the world, you will spend the rest of your short, anxious life knowing that America will track you down, find you, and kill you mercilessly.
The Secretary of Defense added, “Today we hunted and we killed the enemy. We killed a lot of the enemy. And we will continue.”
“The United States, as I promised, is exacting very severe retaliation against the murderous terrorists responsible,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He said the Syrian government was “fully supportive.”
Centcom previously said the deadly attack in Palmyra was carried out by IS gunmen, who were “engaged and killed.”
The ambush wounded three U.S. soldiers, and a Pentagon official said the incident took place “in an area beyond the control of the Syrian president.”
At the same time, SOHR said the attackers were members of the Syrian security forces.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the identity of the gunman has not been released.
In 2019, the U.S.-backed Coalition of Syrian Fighters announced that IS had lost the last territory it controlled in Syria, but the jihadist group has carried out several attacks since then.
The United Nations says there are still 5,000 to 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.
U.S. troops have been stationed in Syria since 2015 to help train other forces as part of the campaign against IS.
Syria recently joined the international coalition to defeat IS and pledged to cooperate with the United States.
Last November, Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara, a former jihadist leader whose coalition forces toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024, met Trump at the White House and described his visit as part of a “new era” for the two countries.
