https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/19/politics/us-strikes-isis-targets-syria


6 hours ago:






The US struck multiple targets in Syria on Friday that the US military tied to ISIS as retaliation for the recent attack that killed two American service members there, according to two US officials.

“I am hereby announcing that the United States is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible,” President Donald Trump later wrote on Truth Social.

Roughly 70 targets were hit in the operation, the two US officials said.

Dubbed “Operation Hawkeye,” a reference to the fact that the two US soldiers killed were from the “Hawkeye State” of Iowa, the strikes hit dozens of targets the military connected to ISIS — including infrastructure and weapons storage sites across Syria, one of the officials said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the strikes a “declaration of vengeance,” in a post on X late Friday afternoon.

“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” he wrote. “The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”

After the attack on December 13 that killed the two soldiers and a civilian interpreter, US and partner forces conducted 10 operations resulting in the death or detention of around 23 people, that official added. Those operations also yielded intelligence from electronics gathered during the operations that provided information contributing to targeting for the strikes, according to the same US official.

Hundreds of American troops continue to be deployed to Syria as part of the US’ longstanding mission to combat ISIS, a mission that began when ISIS rapidly took control of a large chunk of Syria and Iraq in the mid 2010s. Subsequently, US and partner operations, paired with a change in regime in Syria, largely eliminated that territorial control.

The goal of Operation Hawkeye is to deliver a big blow to ISIS remnants in Syria and their ability to pose a threat to US forces in the region, the same official told CNN.

Partner nations, including Jordan, joined the US in the strikes, the official said.

He is just responding to the 2 Americans killed by Islamic state in Syria.

The Syrian leader supports these US strikes on ISIS.

Lefties love the Islamic state they're butthurt Trump would blow them up.

greggerypeccary wrote on Dec 20^th, 2025 at 5:28pm:



He might lose his Nobel Peace Prize from this?      

This may be where he has a chance:
U.S. Pizza Team Brings Home International Prizes
This week, Spaulding is competing in the Global Pizza Challenge in Sydney, Australia.
https://www.pmq.com/u-s-pizza-team-brings-home-international-prizes/

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-strikes-islamic-state-targets-syria...



By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
December 20, 20253:15 PM GMT+11    Updated 5 hours ago


Strikes hit more than 70 ISIS targets
Retaliatory strikes follow attack on US troops
Trump says Syrian president backs US military action against ISIS


Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. military launched large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an attack on American personnel, U.S. officials said.
A U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria targeting Islamic State suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria's security forces.
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President Donald Trump had vowed to retaliate after a suspected ISIS attack killed U.S. personnel last weekend in Syria.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes targeted "ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites" and that the operation was "OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE."
"This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance," Hegseth said. "Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue," he added.
Trump said on social media that the Syrian government fully supported the strikes and that the U.S. was inflicting "very serious retaliation."
At a speech in North Carolina on Friday night, Trump called it a "massive" blow against the ISIS members that the U.S. blames for the Dec. 13 attack on coalition forces.
"We hit the ISIS thugs in Syria. … It was very successful," Trump said at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
U.S. Central Command said the strikes hit more than 70 targets across central Syria, adding that Jordanian fighter jets supported the operation.
One U.S. official said the strikes were carried out by U.S. F-15 and A-10 jets, along with Apache helicopters and HIMARS rocket systems.
Syria reiterated its steadfast commitment to fighting Islamic State and ensuring that it has "no safe havens on Syrian territory," according to a statement by the foreign ministry.
Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed on Saturday in the central Syrian town of Palmyra by an attacker who targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the U.S. military. Three other U.S. soldiers were also wounded in the attack.
About 1,000 U.S. troops remain in Syria.
The Syrian Interior Ministry has described the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathizing with Islamic State.
Syria's government is 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.
Syria has been cooperating with a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, reaching an agreement last month when President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House.

Baronvonrort wrote on Dec 20^th, 2025 at 7:31pm:



But it's OK to blow up ISIS.

How can he be attacking ISIS?

From 2018:

President Donald Trump is pulling all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, officials announced Wednesday as the president suddenly declared victory over the Islamic State.

“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he said as Vice President Mike Pence met with top leaders at the Pentagon.

Did he lie?

Bobby. wrote on Dec 21^st, 2025 at 5:34am:


Trump failed then.

As usual.