US Central Command (Centcom) announced that the United States and its partner forces carried out large-scale strikes against ISIS targets in Syria.
US President Donald Trump ordered the strikes on Saturday, which are part of Operation Hawk Strike, in response to the deadly attack by ISIS on US forces in Syria on December 13, US Central Command wrote on X.
The strikes were carried out in an effort to combat terrorism and protect U.S. and partner forces in the region, according to Central Command.
“Our message remains strong: If you harm our fighters, we will find and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” Central Command said.
An official told CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the US, that the US and its partner forces fired more than 90 precision-guided munitions at more than 35 targets in an operation that involved more than 20 aircraft.
The official added that aircraft including F-15E, A-10, AC-130J, MQ-9 and Jordanian F-16 aircraft participated in the strikes.
The location of the strikes and the extent of human losses are not yet clear.
“We will never forget and we will never relent,” Defense Minister Pete Hegseth wrote on Saturday in reference to the military action.
The Trump administration first announced Operation Hawk Eye Strike in December after an ISIS militant killed two American soldiers and an American civilian translator in an ambush in Palmyra, central Syria.
“This is not the start of a war, this is a declaration of revenge,” Hegseth said when announcing the operation in December.
He added, “The United States of America, under the leadership of President Trump, will never hesitate and will never hesitate to defend our people.”
Before the latest strikes on Saturday, US forces killed or captured nearly 25 ISIS members in 11 missions between December 20 and 29 as part of Operation Hawk Eye Strike, Central Command said.
In the operation’s first mission on December 19, US and Jordanian forces carried out a “large-scale strike” against ISIS, deploying fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery to strike “more than 70 targets in multiple locations in central Syria,” according to Syria Central Command.
He added that this operation “used more than 100 precision-guided munitions” targeting known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites.
Syria has been in a fragile state since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, which effectively ended the civil war that had ravaged the country for 13 years.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Julani, has served as the country’s president since his rebel group ousted Assad and consolidated control.
ISIS in Syria has been weakened, but remains active, mostly carrying out attacks against Kurdish-led forces in the northeast in 2025.