U.S. aircraft launched airstrikes against forces identifies as Islamic State on Jan. 10 as part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, a retaliatory campaign in response to the killing of three American troops last month.
A U.S. Central Command statement said the strikes took place in Syria, with U.S. forces operating alongside partner nations. A defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the mission included 20 aircraft striking 35 targets using more than 90 precision munitions.
Images released by U.S. Air Forces Central show F-15E Strike Eagles and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs being prepared for the mission, some loaded with 2,000-pound GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
A video released by CENTCOM shows the A-10s as being from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and the F-15Es from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The video also shows unclassified footage of some of the strikes.
These strikes marked the second round of strikes in the operation. The first, on Dec. 19, was larger, featuring F-15Es, A-10s, U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, and HIMARS artillery launchers combining to hit more than 70 targets with 100-plus munitions.
The operation was sparked by what officials are calling an “ambush” on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS near Palmyra, Syria. Two Soldiers and an American civilian working as an interpreter were killed, and three Soldiers were wounded. The service members were from the Iowa National Guard.
The gunman was killed after the Dec. 13 attack, U.S. and Syrian officials said. A Syrian officer was killed and two others were injured, Syrian officials said.
“Our message remains strong: If you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” CENTCOM said in its release.
The U.S. has roughly 1,000 troops deployed in Syria to fight ISIS, down from around 2,000 a year ago. U.S. troops have been operating in eastern Syria for years, where they have trained and assisted primarily Kurdish partner forces as part of the counter-ISIS campaign. ISIS’s self-declared caliphate was defeated in 2019, but splinter groups remain active.
In addition to the troops in Syria, CENTCOM also continues to host a sizable number of U.S. Air Force assets in the region, including F-16 fighters and KC-135 tankers.
The Trump administration and Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the rebel forces that toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, have demonstrated growing cooperation. Sharaa visited the White House last month, and Syria officially joined the coalition to defeat ISIS.
