US announces ‘large-scale’ strikes against IS in Syria

WASHINGTON: US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the IS group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, the latest response to an attack last month that killed three Americans.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military forces in the region, said multiple strikes “targeted ISIS throughout Syria,” using an acronym for the terrorist group.

CENTCOM’s post on X did not give specifics on where they took place.

Grainy aerial video accompanying the post showed several separate explosions, apparently in rural areas. The strikes were part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which was launched “in direct response to the deadly ISIS attack on US and Syrian forces in Palmyra,” CENTCOM said.Jordan’s air force also carried out targeted air strikes against IS as part of the operation, its military said on Sunday.

It said in a statement it struck “a number of targets… in several areas within Syria territory”.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed on December 13 after a lone gunman — whom Washington described as an IS militant — ambushed them in Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by the group.

Syria’s interior ministry later said the gunman was a member of the security forces who had been set to be fired for extremism.

“We will never forget, and never relent,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday in a post on X, replying to the CENTCOM statement.

The United States and Jordan carried out a round of strikes last month in response to the Palmyra attack, with CENTCOM saying at the time that “more than 70 targets” had been hit.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, later reported those strikes killed at least five IS members, including a cell leader.

On January 3, Britain and France announced joint strikes targeting an underground facility they said IS had likely used to store weapons.

The US personnel targeted in Palmyra were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat IS, which seized swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.

The IS group were ultimately defeated by local ground forces backed by international air strikes and other support, but IS still has a presence in Syria, especially in the country’s vast desert.

US President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.

The Pentagon announced in April that the United States would halve the number of US personnel in Syria in the following months, while US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said in June that Washington would eventually reduce its bases in the country to one.