US and Jordan Launch 70+ Strikes on ISIS in Syria Retaliating Palmyra Attack

The United States and Jordan carried out more than 70 coordinated strikes on Islamic State targets across Syria late Friday, in the largest U.S. operation against the group in years and a direct response to an ambush that killed three Americans near Palmyra on December 13.npr +1 U.S. Central Command said the campaign, dubbed Operation Hawkeye Strike, began at 4 p.m. Eastern on December 19 and employed more than 100 precision munitions.npr

The strikes hit suspected ISIS fighters, command nodes, weapons depots and infrastructure at multiple locations in central and eastern Syria, including Deir ez‑Zor province, where a war‑monitoring group reported at least five militants killed, among them a drone‑cell leader.nbcnews +1 The operation followed the deaths of Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres‑Tovar, 25, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and 54‑year‑old U.S. interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat, who were gunned down inside a base near Palmyra by a Syrian security forces member believed to have ISIS ties.washingtonpost +1

A “Declaration of Vengeance” After the Palmyra Attack

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the start of Operation Hawkeye Strike as a mission “to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” in direct retaliation for the Palmyra killings.abcnews He later described the assault as “not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” signaling a political desire to show a forceful response after images of the fallen Americans’ dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base drew national attention earlier in the week.abcnews +1

Fighter jets, attack helicopters, artillery and Jordanian warplanes joined the strikes, reflecting both the scale of the operation and regional backing for renewed pressure on ISIS.npr +1 President Donald Trump said U.S. forces were striking “very strongly against ISIS strongholds in Syria” and claimed “we hit every site flawlessly,” framing the action as proof that Washington could both avenge its dead and keep ISIS from regrouping.aljazeera +1

Questions Over Escalation and Endgame in Syria

While U.S. officials argued the strikes were necessary to deter further attacks and prevent ISIS from inspiring plots against the American homeland, they offered no public estimate of casualties or damage, leaving outside groups to piece together the impact on the ground.npr +1 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least five ISIS members were killed so far but warned that a fuller picture would take days to emerge.nbcnews

The operation underscored the enduring risks for roughly 1,000 U.S. troops who remain in Syria more than a decade after the start of the anti‑ISIS campaign, even as the group’s “caliphate” was declared defeated in 2019.washingtonpost +1 Analysts noted that the attacker in Palmyra appeared to be a member of Syrian security forces sympathetic to ISIS, blurring lines between allies and adversaries and raising the prospect that deeper U.S. engagement could complicate the fragile political transition under Syria’s new government.washingtonpost +1

The Bigger Picture

For Washington, Hawkeye Strike was meant to demonstrate that American troops in Syria will be aggressively defended and that ISIS cells will face swift retaliation; for critics, it revived unresolved questions about how long those troops will stay, and what broader strategy guides their mission. With ISIS still believed to command several thousand fighters across Syria and Iraq, the operation signaled that, despite shifting Middle East priorities and other conflicts, the U.S. remains locked in an open‑ended, low‑visibility war against an enemy that has lost its territory but not its capacity to kill.usatoday

npr U.S. Central Command press release, Dec. 19, 2025.
washingtonpost The New York Times, Dec. 19, 2025.
nbcnews BBC / Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
cbsnews Reuters, Dec. 19, 2025.
aljazeera Washington Post, Dec. 19, 2025.
abcnews NBC News / PBS, Dec. 19, 2025.
mynbc5 NPR/AP, Dec. 19, 2025.
pbs Al Jazeera, Dec. 20, 2025.
usatoday BBC / UN estimates on ISIS strength.
wral Al Jazeera, Washington Post analysis.