by Sharon Rondeau
(Dec. 20, 2025) — Early Friday evening, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted on X that the United States launched an attack on the “enemies” who killed two Army National Guard soldiers and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra, Syria last weekend as they assisted in counterterrorism efforts in the area.
The perpetrators were said to be the Islamic State, a terror group also known as ISIS or ISIL.
“Earlier today, U.S. forces commenced OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE in Syria to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on U.S. forces that occurred on December 13th in Palmyra, Syria,” Hegseth wrote at 5:15 p.m.
CENTCOM (U.S. Central Command) is conducting the operation, it said Friday in a press release which included unclassified video of the strikes.
“Following the attack on U.S. and partner forces last Saturday, U.S. Central Command commenced Operation Hawkeye Strike at 4 pm ET against ISIS in Syria, Dec. 19, at the Commander in Chief’s direction. CENTCOM forces struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria with fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery. The Jordanian Armed Forces also supported with fighter aircraft. The operation employed more than 100 precision munitions targeting known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites.”
Less than an hour after Hegseth’s post, President Trump stated on Truth Social that the United States had begun “inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the terrorists responsible ” for the deadly attack.
“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned —, Trump continued, “YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.”
The “dignified ceremony” to which Trump referred was reported by the Department of War in a news release on Wednesday that those who lost their lives are “Army Sgts. William Howard and Edgar Torres Tovar, both assigned to 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, who was working as an interpreter. They were deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. ”
OIR is described as an effort which “advises, assists, and enables Partner Forces To secure lasting defeat of ISIS and to enable the establishment of an enduring security cooperation framework ” under the mantra of “ONE MISSION, MANY NATIONS!”
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth continued his post on Friday. “The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people. As we said directly following the savage attack, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you. Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.”