The United States launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria on Saturday, following a deadly ambush last month that killed two U.S. soldiers and an American civilian interpreter, U.S. Central Command said.
Central Command said the large-scale strikes were carried out alongside partner forces and occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT) Saturday. The strikes hit multiple IS targets across Syria, the command said.
The Jordanian military later announced it had taken part in the strikes.
Central Command framed the action as a response to last month’s Palmyra attack, which it said killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, as well as Ayad Mansoor Sakat, an American civilian interpreter. In a statement Saturday, Central Command said, “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,”
The AP reported that the U.S. military said Saturday’s strikes were conducted alongside partner forces but did not specify which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. The operation launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that involved IS infrastructure and weapons.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of IS operations in the Levant.
For years, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been the U.S.’s main partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. Since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly coordinated with the central government in Damascus, the AP reported. Syria recently joined the global coalition against the IS, it added.