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‘Large-scale attacks, 70 IS targets’: Why the US launched Operation Hawkeye Strike in Syria
US President Donald Trump said the US retaliation was in response to the “ISIS’s vicious killing of brave American Patriots in Syria.”
The US administration on Friday said it carried out military strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters and weapons sites, days after an ambush killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter.
A US official said the military carried out a “large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria linked to IS infrastructure and weapons, adding that more strikes should be expected, the Associated Press reported.
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Terming the operation “Operation Hawkeye Strike,” US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X, “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”
“Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue,” he added.
What is Operation Hawkeye strike?
Operation Hawkeye is US's response to the killing of two US army soldiers and a civilian interpreter who died in an attack last Saturday in the central Syrian town of Palmyra. The attacker was reportedly shot dead after he targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces. Three other US soldiers were also wounded in the attack.
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The US personnel who were targeted were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat IS, which seized swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.
US President Donald Trump said the US retaliation was in response to the “ISIS’s vicious killing of brave American Patriots in Syria.”
“We are striking very strongly against ISIS strongholds in Syria, a place soaked in blood which has many problems, but one that has a bright future if ISIS can be eradicated. The Government of Syria, led by a man who is working very hard to bring Greatness back to Syria, and is fully in support.” he said on Truth Social.
US-Syria fight against Islamic State
Syria has been cooperating with a US-led coalition against Islamic State, reaching an agreement last month when President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House.
Reuters cited Syrian interior ministry describing the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathizing with Islamic State. Syria's government is now led by former rebels who toppled leader Bashar al-Assad last year after a 13-year civil war, and includes members of Syria's former Al Qaeda branch who broke with the group and clashed with Islamic State.
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Syria's foreign ministry, while not directly commenting on the US strikes, said in a post on X that is committed to fighting IS and “ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory.”
Trump has long been skeptical of Washington's presence in Syria and ordered the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.
The Pentagon announced in April that the US would reduced the number of US personnel by half 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.
US forces are currently deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.
