US strikes dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria in retaliation for deadly ambush

The US military has said it attacked more than 30 Islamic State targets in Syria earlier this month in retaliation for the deaths of two US soldiers and an American civilian interpreter in an IS ambush two months ago.

Weapons storage facilities and other IS infrastructure were targeted in 10 strikes between 3 February and Thursday, US Central Command said, in its campaign to maintain "relentless military pressure" on what remains of the terrorist network.

"Precision munitions [were] delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft [drones]," CENTCOM said in a statement on Saturday.

It follows five strikes on a communication site, part of a critical logistics network and weapons storage facilities between 27 January and 2 February.

The military action is part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which was launched after Islamic State fighters attacked US and Syrian forces in Palmyra, in southern Syria, on 13 December, in which the three Americans were killed.

Two sergeants, Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and William Nathaniel Howard, died, along with interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat.

More than 50 IS terrorists have been killed or captured and more than 100 IS targets have been hit "during two months of targeted operations," Central Command said.

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The news comes a day after the US military said it had finished transferring thousands of IS prisoners from Syria to Iraq, where they are expected to stand trial.

Authorities in Baghdad had asked for them to be sent to Iraq, in a move welcomed by the US-led coalition that had fought IS for years.

Pictures were published of IS prisoners in the Al-Karkh Central Prison in Baghdad.

On Thursday, Syria's defence ministry said the Al-Tanf military base in the east of the country, which was run for years by US troops as part of the fight against IS, was now under its control.

IS declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, imposing a brutal regime of strict Sharia law before it was destroyed by US-led allied forces.

(c) Sky News 2026: US strikes dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria in retaliation for deadly ambush