The US military launched retaliatory strikes on Friday against ISIS targets in Syria, according to a statement released by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on social media.
According to a US official, more than 70 ISIS targets were hit in Friday’s strikes by a combination of fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery fire.
Hegseth said “Operation Hawkeye Strike” was carried out in Syria “to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on US forces that occurred on December 13.” in Palmyra, Syria.
CENTCOM forces launched fighter jets, attack helicopters and other assets to carry out a large-scale attack on Syria on December 19, 2025.
@CENTCOM/X
“This is not the beginning of a war. It is a declaration of revenge,” Hegseth said. “The United States of America, under the leadership of President Trump, will never hesitate or relent in defending our people.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens during an event at the State Department, Dec. 8, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
The attacks in Syria are retaliation for the killing Saturday of three Americans in Palmyra, Syria, by what CENTCOM said was a lone ISIS gunman who was later killed.
President Donald Trump said the attacks were “inflicting very serious retaliation, as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible” for the attack.
Trump added that the attacks were occurring “against ISIS strongholds in Syria” and that Syria’s new government “fully supports it.”
CENTCOM forces launched fighter jets, attack helicopters and other assets to carry out a large-scale attack on Syria on December 19, 2025.
@CENTCOM/X
Reports from inside Syria, including the monitoring agency Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that explosions had been heard in areas of the country.
The three fatalities of Saturday’s attack in Palmira Including two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian interpreter, three other Iowa National Guard members were injured in the attack.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Dec. 17, 2025, upon returning from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Friday’s large-scale retaliatory strikes involved F-15 and A-10 fighter jets, attack helicopters and the use of HIMARS rocket artillery, according to a US official, who said they had struck 70 targets, including “ISIS weapons and infrastructure areas in central Syria.”
CENTCOM forces launched fighter jets, attack helicopters and other assets to carry out a large-scale attack on Syria on December 19, 2025.
@CENTCOM/X
The official added that the retaliatory strikes were aimed at dealing “a significant blow” to the remaining ISIS forces in Syria, its infrastructure and eliminating ISIS weapons areas.
According to the latest US intelligence estimates, there are still between 1,500 and 3,000 ISIS militants operating in Syria and Iraq.
Before Friday’s attacks, the official said U.S. partners led 10 operations, with U.S. military support, that captured or killed 23 ISIS militants. The raids also helped obtain intelligence information that formed the basis for future attack operations, the official said.
In this Jan. 9, 2025, file photo, U.S. forces patrol in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli in Hasakeh province.
Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
currently there are 1,000 US troops in Syria, most of them located in eastern Syria, with the continuing mission to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which was militarily defeated in 2019.
Between 100 and 150 U.S. troops in Syria are based at At Tanq Garrison, a remote outpost located on Syria’s border with Jordan. The Iowa National Guard members who were targeted in Saturday’s attack were based at that outpost, which was visited Friday by Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, according to a source familiar with the visit.
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wave as members of the military carry transfer boxes of the remains of Iowa National Guard members killed in Syria, said Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar and Sgt. William Howard at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, December 17, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The Iowa National Guard members who were targeted in Saturday’s attack were based at that outpost, which was visited Friday by Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, according to a source familiar with the visit.
Cooper credited the troops there for their actions under fire and also spoke of the attacks that were going to take place on Friday.
Sergeant. William “Nate” Howard, Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar and his American civilian interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, were killed in an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman on Saturday while carrying out an engagement with a key leader, according to a CENTCOM statement.
They were the first combat deaths of US military personnel in Syria since 2019.
In the wake of Saturday’s ambush, US Central Command provided information on the frequency of anti-ISIS operations in Syria, noting that since July, the US and its partner forces had conducted 80 operations against ISIS targets and had detained 119 ISIS militants and killed 14.
In November alone, US and Syrian forces jointly destroyed 15 ISIS weapons depots in southern Syria, he said.
