The United States on Friday launched airstrikes against dozens of Islamic State (IS) targets across central Syria in retaliation for a deadly attack on US personnel, officials said.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the strikes targeted “ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” under an operation dubbed Operation Hawkeye Strike, adding that more action could follow.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said in a statement and on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”
Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes hit dozens of IS targets across central Syria.
An official told The Associated Press that the operation involved F-15 Eagle fighter jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground-attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, and warned that additional strikes were expected. The Pentagon declined to provide further operational details, referring questions to Hegseth’s statement.
The airstrikes follow an attack last weekend in the Syrian desert near Palmyra, in which two US Army soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed and three other US soldiers wounded. The attacker targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the US military.
The US Army later identified the slain service members as Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, both members of the Iowa National Guard. The civilian interpreter killed in the attack was Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan.
The Syrian Interior Ministry has described the attacker as a member of Syria’s security forces suspected of sympathising with Islamic State.
President Donald Trump had vowed “very serious retaliation” after the attack, while stressing that Syrian forces were fighting alongside US troops. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said the president was delivering on that promise. “President Trump told the world that the United States would retaliate for the killing of our heroes by ISIS in Syria, and he is delivering on that promise,” she said.
