In a post on X late on Friday, Hegseth wrote: “This is not the beginning of a war – it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.<\/p>\n
“If you target Americans – anywhere in the world – you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.<\/p>\n
“Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue,” the US defence secretary added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the US Central Command (Centcom) said that “US forces have commenced a large-scale strike” against IS, adding that more information would be provided soon.<\/p>\n
Posting on Truth Social later on, President Trump said the US “is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible”.<\/p>\n
He said the Syrian government was “fully in support”.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OBHR) said IS positions near the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez Zor were targeted.<\/p>\n
It said that a prominent IS leader and a number of fighters were killed.<\/p>\n
IS has not publicly commented. The BBC was unable to verify the targets immediately.<\/p>\n
Centcom, which directs American military operations in Europe, Africa and the Indo-Pacific, earlier said that the deadly attack in Palmyra was carried out by an IS gunman, who was “engaged and killed”.<\/p>\n
Another three US soldiers were injured in the ambush, with a Pentagon official saying that it happened “in an area where the Syrian president does not have control.”<\/p>\n
At the same time, the SOHR said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces.<\/p>\n
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the identity of the gunman has not been released.<\/p>\n