Dec 20 (Reuters) – The United States military launched large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an attack on American personnel, U.S. officials said.
A US-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria targeting Islamic State suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syrian security forces.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to retaliate after an alleged ISIS attack killed members of the US team last weekend in Syria.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacks targeted “ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapons sites.”
‘This is not the start of a war – it’s a declaration of revenge,’ Hegseth said. ‘Today, we hunt and kill our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue’, he added.
TRUMP PRAISES
Trump said on social media that the Syrian government fully supported the attacks and that the US was inflicting ‘very serious retaliation’.
In a speech in North Carolina on Friday night, Trump called the attack a ‘massive’ blow against the ISIS members the US blames for the Dec. 13 attack on coalition forces.
‘We hit the ISIS thugs in Syria. (…) It was very successful,’ Trump said at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
US Central Command said the strikes hit more than 70 targets in central Syria, adding that Jordanian fighter jets supported the operation.
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A US official said the strikes were carried out by US F-15 and A-10 jets, along with Apache helicopters and HIMARS rocket systems.
Jordan’s air force took part in the strikes, state Jordan TV reported on Saturday, saying they targeted Islamic State-affiliated sites in southern Syria, within the framework of Amman’s cooperation with the US-led coalition.
Syria has reiterated its unwavering commitment to fighting the Islamic State and ensuring that it has ‘no safe haven on Syrian territory’, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed Saturday in the central Syrian city of Palmyra by an attacker who attacked a convoy of U.S. and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the U.S. Army. Three other US soldiers were also injured in the attack.
About 1,000 US troops remain in Syria.
The Syrian Interior Ministry described the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathizing with the Islamic State.
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Syria’s government is led by former rebels who ousted leader Bashar al-Assad last year after a 13-year civil war, and includes members of the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda who broke away from the group and clashed with Islamic State.
Syria has cooperated with a US-led coalition against Islamic State, reaching an agreement last month when President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House.
