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‘Very serious retaliation’: U.S. strikes ISIS targets in Syria
The Trump administration launched more than 70 strikes against ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, responding to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last week.
Updated: 6:44 AM PST Dec 20, 2025
The Trump administration struck more than 70 ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. and Syrian forces last week.On Friday evening, President Donald Trump told a crowd in North Carolina, “Just 2 hours ago, we hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration 5 years ago. We hit them hard.”Trump further described the operation as successful and precise. In a social media post ahead of his speech, he called it a “very serious retaliation.” That sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also known as the secretary of war, in another post. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said. The strikes were in response to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last weekend. The president blamed the attack on a member of the Islamic State, although the group has not claimed responsibility. Trump said the U.S. retaliation was fully supported by Syria’s new leader, who has overseen warming relations with the West since the fall of the Assad regime last year. Following the U.S. strikes, Syria’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to fighting ISIS and underscored the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism.In a recent national security strategy document, the Trump administration argued that the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are over. The administration has sought to build ties with countries like Syria, including in the counterterrorism space, but contends that the threats can be contained “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.” The Trump administration is instead looking to focus closer to home, shifting military resources away from the Middle East and towards South America, as tensions mount with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Asked if the Trump administration would rule out regime change in Venezuela, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview Friday, “The president has spoken about his concerns when it comes to the illegitimate regime in Venezuela, his concerns about the gangs we have seen come from Venezuela, the concerns about the narcotrafficking that we’ve also seen.”
The Trump administration struck more than 70 ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. and Syrian forces last week.
On Friday evening, President Donald Trump told a crowd in North Carolina, “Just 2 hours ago, we hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration 5 years ago. We hit them hard.”
Trump further described the operation as successful and precise. In a social media post ahead of his speech, he called it a “very serious retaliation.”
That sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also known as the secretary of war, in another post.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said.
The strikes were in response to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last weekend. The president blamed the attack on a member of the Islamic State, although the group has not claimed responsibility.
Trump said the U.S. retaliation was fully supported by Syria’s new leader, who has overseen warming relations with the West since the fall of the Assad regime last year.
Following the U.S. strikes, Syria’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to fighting ISIS and underscored the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism.
In a recent national security strategy document, the Trump administration argued that the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are over. The administration has sought to build ties with countries like Syria, including in the counterterrorism space, but contends that the threats can be contained “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.”
The Trump administration is instead looking to focus closer to home, shifting military resources away from the Middle East and towards South America, as tensions mount with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Asked if the Trump administration would rule out regime change in Venezuela, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview Friday, “The president has spoken about his concerns when it comes to the illegitimate regime in Venezuela, his concerns about the gangs we have seen come from Venezuela, the concerns about the narcotrafficking that we’ve also seen.”
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