U.S. conducts fresh strikes in Syria, CENTCOM reports dozens of IS fighters hit

U.S. Central Command said this week that American aircraft carried out strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, destroying a communications site and weapons storage facilities and, in CENTCOM statements accompanying the operations, indicating that “dozens” of IS members were killed or captured.

CENTCOM presented the operations as part of a continuing campaign called Operation Hawkeye Strike, which it said was launched after a Dec. 13 ambush near Palmyra that killed two U.S. soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter. “These strikes are part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which was launched and announced on Dec. 19, 2025, at the direction of President Trump, in direct response to the deadly ISIS attack on U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria, on Dec. 13, 2025,” CENTCOM said in its public account of the campaign.

The United States and partners have conducted multiple waves of strikes since December. U.S. officials said the Dec. 19 response used a large number of munitions against suspected Islamic State positions across central Syria, targeting weapons storage and operational-support buildings. A subsequent wave of strikes in January involved a broad air component; Capt. Timothy Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, described the deployment of airpower in that operation: “About 20 Air Force attack planes, including F-15Es, A-10s and AC-130J gunships, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones and Jordanian F-16 fighter jets fired more than 90 bombs and missiles toward at least 35 targets on Saturday.”

The strike sequence is intended, CENTCOM said, to “root out Islamic terrorism against our warfighters, prevent future attacks, and protect American and partner forces in the region.” The command’s Feb. 4 statement framing the Jan. 27–Feb. 2 strikes highlighted the destruction of a communications node and weapons caches but provided no precise breakdown of casualties beyond the characterization of “dozens” killed or captured.

The U.S. justification for Operation Hawkeye Strike, that the Dec. 13 Palmyra ambush was carried out by an Islamic State gunman, is disputed in other reporting. Longwarjournal has said there is “little evidence that the Islamic State executed the attack,” and reported Syrian Interior Ministry material suggesting the attacker may have been a member of Syria’s security services who had been under investigation for alleged jihadist ties. Islamic State had not publicly claimed responsibility for the Palmyra incident in the accounts that raised those doubts. Those conflicting assessments underscore a central gap in the public record: independent, detailed evidence tying the Dec. 13 shooter to IS has not been published.

Regional partners have been involved in some operations; Jordanian F-16s were cited by U.S. military spokesmen as participating in past strike waves. Jerusalem Post reporting noted that CENTCOM did not specify whether anyone was killed in its most recent release and that requests for further comment to U.S. agencies received no immediate response. The same reporting cited a remaining U.S. force posture in Syria of roughly 1,000 troops.

Key questions remain unanswered: precise counts and locations for the fighters CENTCOM says were killed or detained, the identities and affiliations of the Palmyra attacker, the full roster of coalition participants and any assessments of civilian harm. CENTCOM and coalition partners will likely face renewed demands for more detailed evidence and strike assessments from international monitors, Syrian authorities and independent investigators as the campaign continues.