VIDEO The US launched a massive attack against ISIS in Syria after the killing of some American soldiers / Trump's announcement
The US military carried out a “massive attack” on Friday to “eliminate Islamic State fighters, infrastructure and weapons caches” in response to the killing of three American citizens, two of them military, in an armed attack in the Syrian desert, the Pentagon announced, BBC reports.
The US Central Command (Centcom) reported that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “struck more than 70 targets in several locations in central Syria”. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.
The operation used “more than 100 precision munitions” targeting known IS infrastructure and weapons depots, Centcom, which coordinates US military operations in Europe, Africa and the Indo-Pacific region, said in a statement on X.
Tonight, US and Jordanian forces struck 70+ ISIS targets in Syria with 100+ precision munitions. Peace through strength. pic.twitter.com/XWWvfqBBFT
— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 20, 2025
Operation “Hawkeye” Strike was launched on Friday, at 16:00 US East Coast time (Saturday, 00:00 Romanian time).
Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the United States “will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and US partners in the region.”
“We don't start the war”
The US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said on the X network that the operation “does not represent the beginning of a war”, but is a “declaration of revenge”.
“US forces began OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE in Syria to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapons sites in direct response to the December 13 attack on US forces in Palmyra, Syria,” Pete Hegseth reported.
Earlier today, US forces began OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE in Syria to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on US forces that occurred on December 13th in Palmyra, Syria.
This is not the beginning of a war — it is a…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) December 19, 2025
“If you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your short, anxious lives knowing that the United States will hunt you down, find you, and kill you without mercy. Today, we hunted down and killed our enemies. A lot of them. And we will continue,” the defense secretary added.
President Donald Trump has also said that we are “hitting very hard” on IS strongholds, following the December 13 IS ambush in the desert city of Palmyra.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States was “retaliating very strongly, just as we promised, against the criminal terrorists responsible” for killing the three Americans.
“We are striking very hard against ISIS strongholds in Syria, a blood-soaked place that has many problems, but has a bright future if ISIS can be eradicated,” Trump said.
He said the Syrian government “fully supports” the action.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Islamic State positions near the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor were targeted.
According to SOHR, an important IS leader and several fighters were killed.
Islamic State has not yet commented on the attack.
American soldiers killed in an ambush in Syria
Two U.S. soldiers and a civilian U.S. military translator were killed Saturday, December 13, by an attacker believed to be part of the Islamic State group who attacked a convoy of U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria.
Three other American soldiers were wounded in the attack.
