The US and its allied forces have conducted large-scale strikes against the targets of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, the US Central Command (Centcom) announced.
US President Donald Trump ordered the strikes on Saturday, which are part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, in retaliation for the deadly attack by the IS group on US forces in Syria on 13 December, Centcom of X wrote.
The strikes were carried out in an effort to fight terrorism and protect US and allied forces in the region, according to Centcom.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our fighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” Centcom said.
The US and its allied forces fired more than 90 precision munitions at more than 35 targets in an operation involving more than 20 aircraft, an official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
The official added that aircraft including F-15Es, A-10s, AC-130Js, MQ-9s and Jordanian F-16s participated in the strikes.
The location of the strikes and the extent of any casualties are still unclear.
“We will never forget, and we will never stop,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X on Saturday in reference to the military action.
The Trump administration first announced Operation Hawkeye Strike in December after a IS gunman killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter in an ambush in Palmyra, located in central Syria.
“This is not the beginning of a war – this is a declaration of revenge,” Hegseth said when the operation was announced in December.
“The United States of America, under the leadership of President Trump, will never hesitate and will never stop protecting our people.”
Before the latest strikes on Saturday, US forces killed or captured nearly 25 members of the IS group in 11 missions between 20 December and 29 December as part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, Centcom said.
In the first mission of the operation on December 19, US and Jordanian forces carried out a “massive strike” against the IS group, deploying fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery to strike “more than 70 targets in many locations throughout central Syria”, according to Centcom.
The operation, it said, “used more than 100 precision munitions” targeting known IS infrastructure and weapons sites.