Trump says US launched large-scale attacks on ISIL in Syria

DEVELOPING STORY, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says attacks are ‘a declaration of vengeance’, and ‘lots’ of fighters have been killed.US President Donald Trump attends a ceremony on Friday for the return of the remains of two US National Guard members and a translator killed in an attack in Syria [Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP]Published On 20 Dec 2025The United States military is “striking very seriously against ISIS [ISIL] strongholds in Syria”, President Donald Trump said, a week after two US soldiers and an interpreter were killed in Syria’s Palmyra city.“Because of ISIS’s vicious killing of brave American Patriots in Syria… I am hereby announcing that the United States is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4False spring: The end of Tunisia’s revolutionary hopes?list 2 of 4US Senate passes $901bn defence billlist 3 of 4The Arab Spring hasn’t ended, and Arab regimes know itlist 4 of 4Which countries, besides Russia, have assets frozen by the EU?end of listTrump said that Syria’s government, which was formed after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, was “fully in support” of the US military operation.Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also repeated its commitment to combating ISIL and said it “invites the United States and member states of the international coalition to support these efforts”.“The Syrian Arab Republic reiterates its steadfast commitment to fighting ISIS and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory, and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat,” the ministry said in the statement shared on X early on Saturday.US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier that US forces had targeted “ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites”, adding that the attack was named Operation Hawkeye Strike.“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said in a post on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that the air strikes were against dozens of ISIL targets across central Syria.Details on the number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.US deploys ‘fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery’The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for operations in the Middle East, said it deployed “fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery” to launch “more than 100 precision munitions targeting known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites”. But it did not provide further details on the locations or casualties.CENTCOM said that “the Jordanian Armed Forces also supported with fighter aircraft”.Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting earlier from Washington, DC, said the Syrian government appeared to have “signed off” on the US operation.“We don’t know whether any Syrian defence forces are taking part in this retaliatory action, but the US does consider it important to try to help Syria move beyond the Assad regime’s years of dictatorship,” Jordan said.“In order to do so, getting rid of what the US considers a national security threat – members of ISIL – is part of helping Syria move into its next phase as a sovereign country,” she said.“The Trump administration has, in recent weeks, put a lot of stock in trying to shore up the government of the new interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and… trying to keep ISIL away from civilian and military targets in Syria – as it tries to rebuild the government, as well as civil society – is a key operation,” she added.Three Americans – two US National Guard members and a civilian interpreter – were killed last weekend in the central Syrian town of Palmyra by an attacker who targeted a convoy of US and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the US military.Three US soldiers were also wounded in the attack. The US blamed that attack on ISIL and promised to retaliate.About 1,000 US troops are stationed in Syria as part of a years-long operation targeting the remnants of ISIL forces in the region.A US-led coalition has also carried out air strikes and ground operations in Syria targeting ISIL suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria’s security forces.Syria’s government has been cooperating in the US-led fight against ISIL. An agreement on cooperation was reached last month when President al-Sharaa met with Trump at the White House.