US and Jordanian forces have launched an operation against ISIS in Syria, killing at least five members of the militant group including a cell leader, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.
The US strikes overnight on Friday were a response to an attack in Palmyra last week that killed three Americans, Centcom and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.
Mr Hegseth said in a post on social media that the attack – called Operation Hawkeye Strike – was an attempt to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapons sites.
“This is not the beginning of a war – it is a declaration of vengeance,” he wrote. “The United States of America, under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”
ISIS killed and terrorised Syrians for years. We feel a great comfort they’re being dealt with Bakr Qassam ,
a resident of Idlib province
US Central Command said US and Jordanian forces struck more than 70 ISIS targets. The operation employed more than 100 precision munitions targeting known ISIS-affiliated sites, it said.
The UK-based monitor said that the strikes occurred across central Syria as well as in Raqqa, the former ISIS capital, and the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where the group made its final major stand in 2017. It also said that the ISIS suspects were killed in the province's west and that the cell was responsible for operating drones in the area.
US strikes could prove divisive among Syrians, though many civilians are likely to welcome deadly action against ISIS.
"Because it is ISIS - which killed and terrorised Syrians for years - we feel a great comfort that they’re being dealt with," Bakr Qassam, a resident of Maarshoureen in the Idlib countryside, told The National.
"We support any military operation that keeps Syria’s stability in
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