The United States, with Jordanian air force participation, launched Operation "Hawkeye Strike" overnight, striking around 70 suspected ISIS targets including infrastructure and weapons sites in Syria's central desert using fighter jets, helicopters, and heavy artillery, in retaliation for the killing of two US soldiers and an interpreter near Palmyra last week, according to a post on X by QalaatAlMudiq. Over the past hour from 10:46 a.m. to 11:46 a.m. UTC, several US warplanes were spotted flying over Deir Ezzor heading to the central desert, with attack helicopter activity also reported, as stated in the same X post by QalaatAlMudiq. The Jordanian army stated the strikes aimed to prevent extremist organizations from using the areas as a threat to Syria's neighbors and the region, especially after ISIS rehabilitated itself and built capabilities in southern Syria, according to a Jordanian announcement cited and translated from Hebrew in an X post by kaisos1987. The operation is expected to continue for weeks, per QalaatAlMudiq's report. A previous report from earlier this morning cited an American official stating the US informed Israel in advance of Syria attacks, as reported by Axios journalist Barak Ravid on X.
