US announces ‘large-scale’ strikes against ISIS in Syria
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The strikes are the latest US response to a Dec 13 attack by ISIS in Syria that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter.
SCREENSHOT: FACEBOOK/CENTCOM
- US and allied forces conducted "large-scale" strikes against ISIS in Syria on January 10 after a deadly December attack.
- The strikes, part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, targeted ISIS throughout Syria, responding to the Palmyra attack that killed three Americans.
- The Palmyra attack was the first since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, and the US is involved in Operation Inherent Resolve to combat ISIS.
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WASHINGTON - US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against militant group ISIS in Syria on Jan 10, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack in December that left three Americans dead.
US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military forces in the region, said multiple strikes “targeted ISIS throughout Syria”.
CENTCOM’s post on social media platform 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 ISIS as part of the operation, its military said on Jan 11.
It said in a statement that it struck “a number of targets... in several areas within Syria territory”.
Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed on Dec 13
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 Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Jan 10 in a post on X, replying to the CENTCOM statement.
The US and Jordan carried out a round of strikes in December
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, later reported that those strikes killed at least five ISIS members, including a cell leader.
On Jan 3, Britain and France announced joint strikes targeting an underground facility they said ISIS had likely used to store weapons.
The Palmyra attack was the first such incident since the overthrow of Syria’s long-time ruler
The US personnel who were targeted were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat ISIS, which seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.
The militants were ultimately defeated by local ground forces backed by international air strikes and other support, but ISIS still has a presence in Syria, especially in the country’s vast desert.
US President Donald Trump has long been sceptical 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 US 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. AFP
