WASHINGTON — The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria after last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. EST Saturday, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit Islamic State targets across Syria.
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is President Trump’s response to the deadly Islamic State attack that killed Sgts. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and William Nathaniel Howard along with Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month. Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
“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,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their forces had arrested the military leader of Islamic State operations in the Levant.
The U.S. military did not name which partner forces joined in Saturday’s mission.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. It launched Dec. 19 with a large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had Islamic State infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, but since the ouster of President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against Islamic State.
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