US Launches New Strikes Against IS     01/12 06:09

   The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the 
Islamic State group in Syria following last month's ambush that killed two U.S. 
soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory 
strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria following last month's ambush 
that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the 
country.

   The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, 
occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT) Saturday, according to the U.S. 
Central Command. The strikes hit multiple IS targets across Syria.

   The Jordanian military later announced it had taken part in the strikes.

   Saturday's strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President 
Donald Trump's response to the deadly IS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian 
Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the 
civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.

   "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," U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.

   A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the 
military leader of IS operations in the Levant.

   The U.S. military said Saturday's strikes were carried out alongside partner 
forces without specifying which forces had taken part.

   The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks 
Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa 
National Guard.

   It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets 
across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.

   The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the U.S.'s main 
partner in the fight against IS in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian 
President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been 
coordinating with the central government in Damascus.

   Syria recently joined the global coalition against the IS.