The strikes come after an attack in December that left three Americans dead. Video / AFP
United States and allied forces have carried out “large-scale” strikes against Isis in Syria, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead.
US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American military forces in the region, said multiple strikes “targeted Isisthroughout Syria”.
Centcom’s post on X did not give specifics on where they took place.
Grainy aerial video accompanying the post showed several separate explosions, apparently in rural areas.
The strikes were part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which was launched “in direct response to the deadly Isis attack on US and Syrian forces in Palmyra”, Centcom said.
Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed on December 13 after a lone gunman – whom Washington described as an Isis militant – ambushed them in Palmyra, home to Unesco-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by the jihadist group.
'Large-scale' strikes have been carried out against Isis in Syria after a lone gunman from the terrorist group killed three Americans near Palmyra in December. Photo / Getty Images
Syria’s Interior Ministry said later that the gunman was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.
“We will never forget, and never relent,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X, replying to the Centcom statement.
The US and Jordan carried out a round of strikes last month in response to the Palmyra attack, with Centcom saying at the time that “more than 70 targets” had been hit.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, later reported those strikes killed at least five Isis members, including a cell leader.
On January 3, Britain and France announced joint strikes targeting an underground facility they said Isis had likely used to store weapons.
The US personnel targeted in Palmyra were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat Isis, which seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.
The jihadists were ultimately defeated by local ground forces backed by international air strikes and other support, but Isis still has a presence in Syria, especially in the country’s vast desert.
US President Donald Trump has long been sceptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.
The Pentagon announced last year that the US would halve the number of its personnel in Syria in the following months, while US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said in June that Washington would eventually reduce its bases in the country to one.
