U.S. launches massive strikes on ISIS in Syria, hits 70 targets after gunman killed 3 Americans

U.S. forces late Friday launched a massive attack against Islamic State targets across Syria, fulfilling President Trump’s vow of “retaliation” after an ISIS gunman killed three Americans last weekend.

U.S. Central Command said that American forces, with support from Jordan, hit more than 70 sites across central Syria. Fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery were used in the operation, the Pentagon said, which targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapons depots with more than 100 precision munitions.

CENTCOM said the mission was dubbed “Operation Hawkeye Strike.”

In a statement on social media, President Trump said the operation was direct retaliation for last weekend’s ambush near Palmyra, Syria, in which Pentagon officials say two U.S. soldiers and one civilian interpreter were gunned down by an ISIS terrorist.

“Because of ISIS’s vicious killing of brave American patriots in Syria, whose beautiful souls I welcomed home to American soil earlier this week in a very dignified ceremony, I am hereby announcing that the United States is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “We are striking very strongly against ISIS strongholds in Syria, a place soaked in blood which has many problems, but one that has a bright future if ISIS can be eradicated.” 

“The government of Syria, led by a man who is working very hard to bring greatness back to Syria, and is fully in support,” Mr. Trump said, adding in all caps that any terrorists who attack Americans in the future will “be hit harder than you have ever been hit before.”

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the strikes will degrade the capability of ISIS to target Americans.

“This operation is critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the U.S. homeland,” he said in a statement. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”

Since the Dec. 13 ISIS attack, CENTCOM said U.S. forces have conducted more than 80 operations targeting the terrorist group in Syria. Twenty-three ISIS operatives have been killed or captured, military officials said.

In his Truth Social post, Mr. Trump referred to the new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power in Damascus in December 2024 after the toppling of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

The deaths of Americans in Syria and subsequent U.S. strikes on ISIS come at a delicate moment for both governments. Mr. al-Sharaa will now face tough questions about whether he and his fledgling government are capable of containing the terrorist groups operating on Syrian soil.

At the same time, Mr. Trump is also ramping up military operations elsewhere in the world, including the potential for direct strikes against Venezuela and more operations targeting alleged drug boats off that country’s shores. 

A new level of engagement in Syria could meet political resistance at home. Critics already have major questions about what goals U.S. troops are trying to achieve there.

The U.S. has kept a contingent of troops in Syria for years, even after Mr. Trump in his first term declared that the Islamic State had been “territorially defeated.” Defeating ISIS, which during its height last decade controlled a huge swath of territory across Syria and neighboring Iraq, was the stated reason for the U.S. putting ground forces in Syria to begin with.

In the years since, the U.S. has maintained a force of around 900 or 1,000 troops in the country. That number rose to about 2,000 around the time the Assad government fell to a rebel alliance in December 2024, but is believed to have dropped back down to around 1,000 today.

The troops are in Syria to conduct counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State, according to Pentagon officials. But some key lawmakers say the recent deaths of Americans prove that the forces are also targets who make the entire region more dangerous.