US launches retaliatory strikes in Syria targeting ISIS, Hegseth announces

[ad_1] The U.S. army launched retaliatory strikes on Friday towards ISIS targets in Syria, in response to an announcement issued by Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth on social media.

Hegseth mentioned "Operation Hawkeye Strike" was carried out in Syria "to get rid of ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons websites in direct response to the assault on U.S. forces that occurred on Dec. 13 in Palmyra, Syria.

A U.S. Air Power F-15E Strike Eagle prepares to land at Kadena AB, Japan, Aug. 4, 2025.

Workers Sgt. Dwane R. Younger/USAF

"This isn't the start of a battle -- It's a declaration of vengeance," mentioned Hegseth. "America of America, below President Trump’s management, won't ever hesitate and by no means relent to defend our folks."

Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth listens throughout an occasion on the State Division, Dec. 8, 2025, in Washington.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The strikes in Syria are in retaliation for the deaths on Saturday of three People in Palmyra, Syria, by what CENTCOM mentioned was a lone ISIS gunman who was later killed.

Reviews from inside Syria together with the monitoring company the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that explosions had been heard in areas of the nation.

The three fatalities included two Iowa Nationwide Guardsmen and a U.S. civilian interpreter, three different Iowa Nationwide Guardsmen had been injured within the assault.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after stepping off Air Power One at Joint Base Andrews, December 17, 2025 upon return from Dover Air Power Base in Delaware.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Afterward Saturday, President Donald Trump informed reporters that the U.S. could be retaliating towards ISIS for the assault.

The next day he mentioned that "in Syria there will probably be plenty of injury achieved to the folks that did it."

Friday’s large-scale retaliatory strikes concerned fighter jets, assault helicopters and the usage of artillery, in response to a U.S. official, who mentioned U.S. forces had been focusing on "dozens upon dozens" of ISIS weapon areas and infrastructure in central Syria.

The official added that the retaliatory strikes had been supposed to ship "a major blow" to ISIS remnant forces in Syria, their infrastructure and eliminating ISIS weapons areas.

On this Jan. 9, 2025, file picture, US forces patrol in Syria's northeastern metropolis Qamishli, within the Hasakeh province.

Delil Souleiman/AFP through Getty Pictures, FILE

There are at the moment 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria, the majority of them positioned in jap Syria, with the persevering with mission stop a resurgence of ISIS which was defeated militarily in 2019.

Between 100 to 150 of the U.S. troops in Syria are based mostly at At Tanq Garrison, a distant outpost positioned on Syria’s border with Jordan. The Iowa Nationwide Guardsmen focused in Saturday’s assault had been based mostly at that outpost, which was visited on Friday by Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, in response to a supply acquainted with the go to.

<img alt="PHOTO: President Donald Trump salutes as members of the military carry transfer cases of the remains of Iowa National Guard members Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar and Sgt. William Howard at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, Dec. 17, 2025. " class="hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI " data-testid="prism-image" draggable="false" loading="lazy" src="https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/3ccf8252-747e-4474-b91c-393ab105b5da/donald-trump-3-rt-gmh-251217_1766001830150_hpMain.jpg"/> President Donald Trump and Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth salute as members of the army carry switch circumstances of the stays of Iowa Nationwide Guard members killed in Syria, Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar and Sgt. William Howard at Dover Air Power Base in Dover, Delaware, Dec. 17, 2025.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The Iowa Nationwide Guardsmen focused in Saturday's assault had been based mostly at that outpost, which was visited on Friday by Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, in response to a supply acquainted with the go to.

Sgt. William "Nate" Howard, Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar, and their U.S. civilian interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, had been killed in an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman on Saturday as they had been finishing up a key chief engagement, in response to a CENTCOM assertion.