Eurasia Press & News
US and Jordanian forces have launched an operation against ISIS in Syria, killing at least five members of the extremist group including a cell leader, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.
The US strikes overnight on Friday were a response to an attack in Palmyra last week that killed three Americans, Centcom and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.
Mr Hegseth said in a post on social media that the attack – called Operation Hawkeye Strike – was an attempt to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapons sites.
“This is not the beginning of a war – it is a declaration of vengeance,” he wrote. “The United States of America, under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”
ISIS killed and terrorised Syrians for years. We feel a great comfort they’re being dealt with
Bakr Qassam,
a resident of Idlib province
US Central Command said US and Jordanian forces struck more than 70 ISIS targets. The operation employed more than 100 precision munitions targeting known ISIS-affiliated sites, it said.
The UK-based monitor said that the strikes occurred across central Syria as well as in Raqqa, the former ISIS capital, and the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where the group made its final major stand in 2017. It also said that the ISIS suspects were killed in the province’s west and that the cell was responsible for operating drones in the area.
US strikes could prove divisive among Syrians, though many civilians are likely to welcome deadly action against ISIS.
“Because it is ISIS – which killed and terrorised Syrians for years – we feel a great comfort that they’re being dealt with,” Bakr Qassam, a resident of Maarshoureen in the Idlib countryside, told The National.
“We support any military operation that keeps Syria’s stability in mind and rids it of terrorism – American operations or otherwise.”
Jordan’s military confirmed Saturday that its air force carried out strikes against ISIS in southern Syria as part of the US-led operation.
In a statement, the Jordanian army said it had joined the operation “to prevent extremist organisations from exploiting these areas as launching pads to threaten the security of Syria’s neighbours”.
Centcom chief Admiral Brad Cooper said the operation was “critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the US homeland”.
Last week, Centcom said a lone gunman opened fire on American personnel who had been supporting counter-terrorism operations in the city of Palmyra, which was once held by ISIS. Two soldiers and an interpreter were killed, and three other people were wounded.
A senior Syrian official in the area told The National following the attack that the man had been a member of Syria’s internal security forces and was “associated with ISIS”.
“As we said directly following the savage attack, 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,” Mr Hegseth said. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”
Writing on his Truth Social account, Mr Trump described Syria as being “soaked in blood which has many problems, but one that has a bright future if ISIS can be eradicated”.
“The government of Syria, led by a man who is working very hard to bring greatness back to Syria, and is fully in support,” he wrote, referring to Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara. “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 USA.”
At a speech in North Carolina on Friday night, Mr Trump called the operation a “massive” blow against the ISIS members.
“We hit the ISIS thugs in Syria. … It was very successful,” he said at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
The strikes come after Syrian forces carried out a large raid in Damascus, seizing drones and explosives from a suspected hideout.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said on social media that Damascus “reiterates its steadfast commitment 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”.
“The Syrian Arab Republic invites the US and member states of the international coalition to support these efforts in a manner that contributes to the protection of civilians and the restoration of security and stability in the region,” it added.
There are currently about 1,000 US troops based in Syria. In 2014, the administration of then-president Barack Obama launched an air campaign against ISIS in Syria as well as Iraq after the group took over large swathes of territory with the aim of establishing what it called a caliphate.
The following year, the first American troops entered Syria, joining forces with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s north-east.
By 2019, ISIS had lost all of the territory it had formerly held, although pockets of fighters still remain scattered throughout Syria.
