{"id":194227,"date":"2025-12-20T06:22:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T06:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/declaration-of-vengeance-pentagon-strikes-isis-in-syria-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T06:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T06:22:26","slug":"declaration-of-vengeance-pentagon-strikes-isis-in-syria-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/declaration-of-vengeance-pentagon-strikes-isis-in-syria-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"'Declaration of vengeance': Pentagon strikes ISIS in Syria – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. military launched airstrikes on several Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Syria on Dec. 19, following the deaths of two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter last week.
“This is not the beginning of a war \u2014 it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> said in a post on X<\/a>. “The United States of America, under President Trump<\/a>\u2019s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”
U.S. forces struck “ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites,” Hegseth said. The Pentagon chief said the attacks were a “direct response” to the deaths of Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa; Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, Grimes, Iowa; and interpreter U.S. civilian Ayad Sakat of Michigan on Dec. 13 in Palmyra, Syria.\u00a0
President Donald Trump<\/a> vowed “very serious retaliation” in response to the killings. The three were killed by a lone gunman<\/a>. The troops were deployed as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the military’s mission to counter the Islamic State.
“Just as I promised,” Trump said in a post of social media platform Truth Social<\/a>. “Because of ISIS\u2019s vicious killing of brave American Patriots in Syria, whose beautiful souls I welcomed home to American soil earlier this week in a very dignified ceremony, I am hereby announcing that the UNited States is inflicting very serious retaliation.”
According to a statement<\/a> from Central Command, the U.S. military arm responsible for the Middle East, the strikes hit more than 70 targets in central Syria. Fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery were involved in the offensive.
U.S. and Syrian forces have conducted 10 operations in Syria and Iraq since Dec. 13, resulting in the death or capture of 23 “terrorist operatives,” according to central command. American and partner forces in Syria have conducted 80 operations over the past six months to “eliminate terrorists,” military leaders said.
The strikes Hegseth announced on Dec. 19 are the latest in a series of air strikes and ground operations a U.S.-led coalition has carried out in Syria targeting Islamic State suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria’s security forces.
In his post on social media, Trump signaled his continued support for Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa<\/a>. The one-time al Qaeda militant rose to become the new president of Syria after helping lead an insurgency to depose longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad<\/a>.
“We are striking very strongly against ISIS strongholds in Syria, a place soaked in blood which has many problems, but one that has a bright future if ISIS can be eradicated,” Trump said. “The Government of Syria, led by a man who is working very hard to bring Greatness back to Syria, and is fully in support. All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned.
Trump met al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 13. The meeting came after the U.S. president announced he would end sanctions on Syria<\/a> in an effort to help restore the country fractured by civil war.
“He’s got the potential – he’s a real leader,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after meeting Sharaa, whom he described as a young, attractive guy with a very strong past. “He’s got a real shot at holding it together.”
Howard, Torres-Tovar and Sakat were killed in the city of Palmyra in central Syria. They were deployed to the country as part of Operation Inherent Resolve<\/a>, a military task force the Defense Department established in 2014 to combat the rise of ISIS in the region.
A gunman targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the U.S. military. The Syrian Interior Ministry has described the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathizing with Islamic State.
Trump, Hegseth and others on Dec. 17 in Delaware attended the dignified transfer of the three men as members of the military carried them off a C-17 transport aircraft and past the president on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base. Trump met before the transfer with the families of the three casualties.
The attack in Palmyra came barely a month after Syria announced it had signed a political cooperation agreement with the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, which coincided with al-Sharaa visiting the White House.
Trump previously described al-Sharaa as “extremely angry and disturbed by the attack” on American servicemembers.
Jihadist group ISIS declared itself a caliphate in 2014. Amid instability in Syria and Iraq, the group quickly moved to seize an area roughly the size of England<\/a> and encompassing a population of nearly 12 million people.\u00a0
Self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi imposed a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic Shari\u2019a law in the region and the group became notorious worldwide for mass killings and displacing millions<\/a>.
The new caliphate lost territory almost as fast as the organization spread. By 2017, ISIS had lost most of its territory; the group\u2019s final stronghold fell to Syrian Democratic Forces in March 2019; and al-Baghdadi died by suicide in October 2019 during a U.S. military operation.
ISIS fighters have fought as an underground insurgency<\/a> since the fall of the Baghuz Fawqani stronghold in Syria in 2019. The jihadist group remains a dangerous force in the region.\u00a0
The group claimed at least 153 attacks<\/a> in the first half of 2024, according to a Central Command news release that said ISIS was “on pace to more than double the total number of attacks they claimed in 2023.”
“This operation is critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the U.S. homeland.” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of Central Command, said of the Dec. 19 strikes. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”
Contributing by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY; Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

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The U.S. military launched airstrikes on several Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Syria on Dec. 19, following the deaths of two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter last week.“This is not the beginning of a war \u2014 it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X. “The United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}