US Launches ‘Operation Hawkeye Strike’ against ISIS in Syria After Deadly Ambush

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Washington D.C.: The United States military conducted Operation Hawkeye Strike, a massive retaliatory strike against the Islamic State (ISIS) in central Syria, targeting over 70 locations, including weapons depots and fighter strongholds. The operation, launched on December 19, involved F-15 jets, Apache helicopters, HIMARS artillery, and Jordanian F-16s, using more than 100 precision munitions.

This response follows a December 13 ambush in Palmyra that killed two U.S. soldiers, Sgt. Edgar Torres-Tovar and Sgt. William Howard, and Ayad Sakat, a civilian interpreter.

The US strike targeted ISIS infrastructure in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Jabal al-Amour. A prominent ISIS leader and several fighters were reportedly killed as per Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

President Donald Trump said “we are striking very strongly” against IS strongholds. In a statement on X, Centcom said Operation Hawkeye Strike was launched on Friday at 16:00 Eastern Time (21:00 GMT).

According to Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper, “the US will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”

“This is not the beginning of a war; it is a declaration of vengeance,” said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The US defence secretary added: “If you target Americans - anywhere in the world - you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you... Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”

President Trump posted on Truth Social that “the US is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible... The Syrian government is fully in support”.

However, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government backs the effort, calling for global anti-terror cooperation.

ISIS has not commented, and targets couldn’t be immediately verified.