US launches major strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria

The United States carried out major airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Syria on Saturday, following up on even larger retaliatory attacks last month to avenge the deaths of two US Army soldiers and a US civilian interpreter killed in a terrorist attack in the country.

About 20 Air Force attack planes, including F-15Es, A-10s and AC-130J gunships, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones and Jordanian F-16 fighter jets, fired more than 90 bombs and missiles toward at least 35 targets Saturday, according to Capt Timothy Hawkins, a spokesperson for the military's Central Command.

The targets included weapons caches, supply routes and other infrastructure used by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, Hawkins said in an email.

"The strikes today targeted ISIS throughout Syria as part of our ongoing commitment to root out Islamic terrorism against our warfighters, prevent future attacks, and protect American and partner forces in the region," Central Command said in a statement.

The strikes Saturday came after US fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery fired more than 100 munitions at more than 70 suspected Islamic State targets across central Syria, including weapons storage areas and other operational-support buildings, on December 19.

The earlier strikes sought to fulfill a promise that President Donald Trump made after the two soldiers from the Iowa National Guard and an American interpreter were killed last month in an incident that U.S. counterterrorism officials blamed on the Islamic State. The Americans were supporting counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State in Palmyra, a city in central Syria, when they came under fire from a lone gunman.

Those soldiers were the first U.S. military casualties in the country since the fall of dictator Bashar Assad in 2024.

Since then, U.S. troops, working with Syrian government forces and the Jordanian military, have redoubled efforts to root out the remnants of the Islamic State.

Top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress last year that the militant group would try to exploit the end of the Assad government to free 9,000 to 10,000 of its fighters and about 26,000 of their family members now detained in northeastern Syria, and revive its ability to plot and carry out attacks.

Although it no longer holds much territory, the Islamic State is still spreading its radical ideology through clandestine cells and regional affiliates outside Syria and online. In 2024, the group was behind major attacks in Iran, Russia and Pakistan.

The deadly attacks against the U.S. soldiers also highlighted the challenges for the nascent Syrian government, led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, as it steers a deeply fractured country emerging from nearly 14 years of civil war.

In a statement last month, the Pentagon's Central Command said the Islamic State had inspired at least 11 plots or attacks against targets in the United States over the past year. In response, the command said its operations resulted in 119 insurgents being detained and 14 killed over the past six months.

U.S. military and Syrian security personnel in November carried out missions to locate and destroy more than 15 Islamic State weapons caches in southern Syria. The operations also destroyed more than 130 mortars and rockets, multiple rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines and materials for building improvised explosive devices, Central Command said.