US bombs ISIS targets in Syria in retaliation for Palmyra insider attack
The Islamic State has not claimed direct credit for the ambush by a member of the Syria's domestic security forces that killed three American personnel in Palmyra last week.
WASHINGTON — The US military launched a rare wave of airstrikes against dozens of sites believed to be associated with remnants of the Islamic State group across rural central and eastern Syria on Friday, in retaliation for an ambush in Palmyra last week that killed two US soldiers and an American interpreter.
The strikes aimed to "eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on X announcing the operation.
President Donald Trump confirmed the ongoing retaliatory strikes in a post on social media, saying Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was “fully in support.”
Videos and accounts of explosions were reported as stretching across Deir ez-Zor province to Palmyra in southern Syria and other areas of the country's central desert, and as far northeast as Raqqa. More than 70 targets had been struck by about 2:15 a.m. local time, a US official briefed on the operation told Al-Monitor.
US Air Force F-15s, A-10 tank busters and US Army Apache attack helicopters, as well as US HIMARS systems on the ground, were joined by Jordanian Royal Air Force F-16s in carrying out the bombardments, the US official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The official said the "massive strike" was expected to continue in the coming hours and stretching into early Tuesday morning.
The Pentagon has dubbed the retaliation "Operation Hawkeye Strike," in reference to the two Iowa National Guard soldiers killed in the Dec. 13 ambush.
"This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance," Hegseth wrote.
Why it matters: The United States launched the sweeping aerial attack after Trump vowed last week to punish the ISIS jihadist group for an insider attack on a US military delegation visiting in Palmyra on Dec. 13.
The firefight in Palmyra left two Iowa National Guard noncommissioned officers dead along with an American civilian interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Michigan. Three other US troops along with at least two members of the Syrian security forces were also reportedly wounded.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) blamed a "lone ISIS gunman" for the attack, although ISIS has not claimed direct credit.
Syria's Interior Ministry identified the attacker as one of its own security recruits who, its spokesperson said, had been suspected of harboring "extremist" ideals. CENTCOM has opened its own investigation into the incident following a lack of clarity from Syrian Interior Ministry officials, Al-Monitor previously reported.
The Syrian government has not publicly released any evidence linking the attacker, who was killed in the Dec. 13 ambush, to ISIS. A spokesperson for US Central Command declined to comment on any intelligence that led to the overnight strikes.
“This operation is critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the US homeland," the top commander of American forces in the Middle East, Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, said in a statement. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”
Following the lethal attack in Palmyra last week, US and local forces carried out ten operations across Syria and Iraq, leading to the "deaths or detention of 23 terrorist operatives," CENTCOM said in a press release. US troops alongside Iraqi and Syrian forces have conducted more than 80 operations against ISIS in the last six months, CENTCOM said.
What's next: The insider attack has threatened to pose the toughest test yet to Trump's second-term Syria policy, which is led by envoy Tom Barrack. Trump returned to the presidency vowing to halt US involvement in "endless" foreign conflicts. Barrack has stated the president ruled out a policy of nation-building in Syria after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024.
Yet administration officials are signaling they plan to forge ahead on their approach to supporting Syria's internal security forces despite the deadly incident. Privately, some US officials acknowledge they are aware of the presence of former al-Qaeda and other extremist figures in Damascus' ranks.
Know more: The US State Department is scouting locations to open a new embassy in Damascus, Elizabeth Hagedorn reports.
Syrian President al-Sharaa specifically thanked Trump and the US Congress for lifting remaining Caesar sanctions on the country in legislation signed this week.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
