US military launches strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters
after American deaths
[December 20, 2025]
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, BEN FINLEY and AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration launched military strikes
Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons
sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops
and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago.
A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70
targets in areas across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and
weapons. Another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity
to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
“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,” Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth said on social media.
The new military operation in Syria comes even as the Trump
administration has said it’s looking to focus closer to home in the
Western Hemisphere, building up an armada in the Caribbean Sea as it
targets alleged drug-smuggling boats and vowing to keep seizing
sanctioned oil tankers as part of a pressure campaign on Venezuela’s
leader. The U.S. has shifted significant resources away from the Middle
East to further those goals: Its most advanced aircraft carrier arrived
in South American waters last month from the Mediterranean Sea.
Trump vowed retaliation
President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” after the
shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed IS. Those killed were
among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a
coalition fighting the militant group.
During a speech in North Carolina on Friday evening, the president
hailed the operation as a “massive strike” that took out the “ISIS thugs
in Syria who were trying to regroup.”
Earlier, in his social media post, he reiterated his backing for Syrian
President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who Trump said was “fully in support” of the
U.S. effort.
Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning IS against attacking
American personnel again.
“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby
warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF
YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.,” the president added.
The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground
attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the U.S. officials said.
F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were
used, one official added.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the region, said in a social media
post that American jets, helicopters and artillery employed more than
100 precision munitions on Syrian targets.
How Syria has responded
The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United
States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a
year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S.
troops and said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this
attack,” which came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation
with Syrian security forces.
[to top of second column]
|
This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows a U.S. Airman
preparing an A-10 Thunderbolt II for flight from a base in the U.S.
Central Command area of responsibility, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in
support of Operation Hawkeye Strike. (U.S. Air Force/DVIDS via AP)
Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of
U.S. strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent
necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat
terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting
ISIS and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory and
will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever
it poses a threat.”
Syrian state television reported that the U.S. strikes hit targets
in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal
al-Amour area near the historic city of Palmyra. It said they
targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by ISIS as
launching points for its operations in the region.”
IS has not said it carried out the attack on the U.S. service
members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on
Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian
soldiers in Idlib province. The group in its statements described
al-Sharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While al-Sharaa once
led a group affiliated with al-Qaida, he has had a long-running
enmity with IS.
The Americans who were killed
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain
Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top
military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the
dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S.
service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian
Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard,
29, of Marshalltown. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S.
civilian working as an interpreter, also was killed.
The shooting near Palmyra also wounded three other U.S. troops as
well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was
killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as
a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned
because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, Interior
Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba has said.
The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials
who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with
Syrian guards.
___
Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
