It proved to be a busy weekend of international operations for the Trump administration, as US forces were also active in the Middle East.
Pete Hegseth – who is joining Donald Trump at his press briefing later – said the US launched strikes to “eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” in Syria on Friday.
A US official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria.
Three US citizens – two National Guard members and a civilian interpreter – were killed and three more were wounded in an attack in the Syrian desert on 13 December.
Trump blamed the killings on Islamic State fighters.
“Because of ISIS’s vicious killing of brave American Patriots in Syria, whose beautiful souls I welcomed home to American soil earlier this week in a very dignified ceremony, I am hereby announcing that the United States is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible,” he said in a Truth Social post.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said more strikes should be expected in the region, so Trump may well have an update to give on these.