Washington: The United States has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the US alongside partner forces, occurred around 4.30am AEDT on Sunday, according to US Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.
The strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of IS’s operations in the Levant.
The US military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched December 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the US’s main partner in the fight against IS in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against IS.
Dozens of Kurdish fighters also left Aleppo on Sunday, security sources told Reuters, and the army said it was still working to clear a remaining group of hardened fighters after a ceasefire failed to end days of deadly clashes.
The violence in Syria’s second city has deepened one of the country’s main faultlines, where President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s promise to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war has faced resistance from Kurdish forces wary of his Islamist-led government.
More to come
AP, Reuters
