Operation Hawkeye Strike: US strikes ISIS targets in Syria after death of 3 Americans

This strike comes as part of an operation launched followed the death of three Americans in the Palmyra ambush in December 2025.

Adding to its latest series of carrying out strikes in countries, the United States on Saturday carried out "large-scale" strikes against the Islamic State in Syria.

Taking to X, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military forces in the region, said multiple strikes "targeted ISIS throughout Syria." The post did not share further details about where they strikes took place.(CENTCOM handout)

Taking to X, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military forces in the region, said multiple strikes "targeted ISIS throughout Syria." The post did not share further details about where they strikes took place.

US Strikes Syria | Key updates

• CENTCOM revealed that these strikes come as part of "Operation Hawkeye ", which was launched and announced on December 19, 2025 by US President Donald Trump “in direct response to the deadly ISIS attack on US and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria, on December 13, 2025.”
• "That ambush, carried out by an ISIS terrorist, resulted in the tragic deaths of two American soldiers and one US civilian interpreter," the statement added further.

• On December 13, an ISIS ambush killed two American soldiers Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa. A third American, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, who was a civilian interpreter, was also killed in the attack.
• “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,” CENTCOM wrote further.
• Before the January strikes, the UK and France had announced and carried out joint strikes in Syria, targeting an underground facility which the jihadist group was using to allegedly store weapons.
• The US had already carried out strikes on December 20, 2025, in response to the Palmyra ambush. Confirming the earlier attack, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said the strikes were not a “declaration of war, but a declaration of vengeance.”
• "The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Hegseth wrote further.
• Syria had also responded to the December strikes and stated that the attack underscored "the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms."