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The United States launched a series of large-scale attacks on Friday, December 19, 2025 against multiple targets in Syria linked by the U.S. military to the Islamic State (ISIS).
According to reported by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the attacks are a retaliation for the aggression on December 13 in Palmyra that killed two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter.
The operation was named "Operation Hawkeye Strike" (also referred to as "Operation Hawkeye"), in reference to the fact that the fallen military personnel were from Iowa ("Hawkeye State"), and it targeted dozens of ISIS-related objectives, including sites of infrastructure and weapons storage in various areas of Syria, according to one of the cited sources.
The Secretary of Defense described the attacks as a “declaration of revenge” and stated that the action “is not the beginning of a war”, but rather a direct response, according to his message cited by the media.
In his social media, Donald Trump, President of the U.S., stated: "All terrorists evil enough to attack Americans are warned: They will be hit harder than ever if they attack or threaten the U.S. in any way."
In the days following the attack in Pamira, U.S. and allied forces conducted 10 operations that resulted in the death or capture of around 23 individuals, from which they gathered intelligence from electronic devices. This information, according to the cited source, helped to select the targets for the bombings on Friday.
A source quoted by CNN indicated that the attacks struck dozens of targets associated with ISIS, including infrastructure and weapon depots, across the country.
Reuters also reported that the offensive included aircraft such as F-15s, A-10s, F-16s, and Apache helicopters, as well as the use of HIMARS from Jordan.
Partner countries, including Jordan, participated alongside the United States in the operation.
Although Washington linked the attacked targets to ISIS, CNN reported that the Syrian Ministry of Interior identified the attacker from December 13 as a member of Syria's Internal Security Service, and that American and Syrian officials acknowledged that the assailant's connections to ISIS were not entirely clear.
Furthermore, the Islamic State did not publicly claim responsibility for the attack, according to those reports.
Hundreds of U.S. troops remain deployed in Syria as part of a long-term mission to combat ISIS, which began when the jihadist group expanded and took control of large areas of Syria and Iraq in the mid-2010s.
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