\n<\/p>\n
The US says its military has carried out a “massive strike” against the Islamic State group (IS) in Syria, in response to a deadly attack on American forces in the country.<\/p>\n
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Operation Hawkeye Strike was aimed at eliminating IS “fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites”.<\/p>\n
Fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery hit multiple targets in central Syria, US officials told CBS, the BBC’s media partner in the US. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump later said “we are striking very strongly” against IS strongholds, after the 13 December IS ambush in the city of Palmyra in which two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a post on X late on Friday, Hegseth wrote: “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.<\/p>\n “If you target Americans – anywhere in the world – you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.<\/p>\n “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue,” the US defence secretary added.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the US Central Command (Centcom) said that “US forces have commenced a large-scale strike” against IS, adding that more information would be provided soon.<\/p>\n Posting on Truth Social later on, President Trump said the US “is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible”.<\/p>\n He said the Syrian government was “fully in support”.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OBHR) said IS positions near the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez Zor were targeted.<\/p>\n It said that a prominent IS leader and a number of fighters were killed.<\/p>\n IS has not publicly commented. The BBC was unable to verify the targets immediately.<\/p>\n Centcom, which directs American military operations in Europe, Africa and the Indo-Pacific, earlier said that the deadly attack in Palmyra was carried out by an IS gunman, who was “engaged and killed”.<\/p>\n Another three US soldiers were injured in the ambush, with a Pentagon official saying that it happened “in an area where the Syrian president does not have control.”<\/p>\n At the same time, the SOHR said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces.<\/p>\n No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the identity of the gunman has not been released.<\/p>\n In 2019, a US-backed alliance of Syrian fighters announced IS had lost the last pocket of territory in Syria it controlled, <\/a>but since then the jihadist group has carried out some attacks.<\/p>\n The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n US troops have maintained a presence in Syria since 2015 to help train other forces as part of a campaign against IS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n