Trump Admin Launches Retaliatory Strikes In Syria, Hours After Officially Repealing Sanctions
Update (1700ET): Just hours after officially repealing sanctions on the country, the US military began a large-scale attack against Islamic State targets in Syria as the Trump admin retaliated for the death of three Americans last week.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a U.S. military official said Friday that dozens of targets were being struck by U.S. F-15 and A-10 warplanes, Apache attack helicopters and Himars rockets.
The operation is being dubbed “Hawkeye Strike” in honor of the Iowa National Guard soldiers who were killed and wounded in an ambush the Trump administration has blamed on ISIS.
The gunman that ambushed the Americans was killed in the attack.
But President Trump on Sunday vowed to take military action against the group.
“There will be a lot of damage done to the people that did it. They got the person, the individual person, but there will be big damage done,” Trump said at the time.
Syrian authorities last week blamed the ambush on a member of Syria’s security forces who they said was set to be fired for holding extremist views.
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Syria is celebrating after President Trump signed a law on Thursday officially repealing the brutal economic sanctions imposed on the country under legislation known as the Caesar Act, which was designed to topple the government of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The sanctions have for many years effectively strangled millions of innocent people, and even impacted access to medicines, hospital equipment, fuel, and unleashed runaway inflation - sending prices for basic staples like eggs and meat soaring.
Sanctions have been on Syria going all the way back to the 1970s, with more piled on over the decades, especially after 2011, and then the most far-reaching, the Caesar sanctions, took effect in 2019 at a time that Assad was winning the war.
Coupled with the sanctions was a long-running CIA and Gulf-spearheaded proxy war, which flooded jihadist groups with weapons and cash - all for the sake of eventually installing a more pliant client ruler.
Now, one year after Washington accomplished its regime change, and with Bashar al-Assad in Moscow, has Washington chosen to remove the sanctions.
As Beirut-based The Cradle observes, "Trump removed the sanctions in an effort to help Syria’s new government, led by former Al-Qaeda commander Ahmad al-Sharaa, to attract foreign investment, foster economic growth, and rebuild infrastructure after 14 years of war."
Some Congressional leaders are still calling for strict monitoring of the new Sharaa regime's behavior, especially following prior months of massacres of Syrian Alawites, Christians, and Druze:
More than 100 House Republicans are demanding increased oversight of Syria as the U.S. prepares to repeal longstanding sanctions against the country.
Reps. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., and Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., are leading 134 fellow GOP lawmakers in calling for guarantees that the Syrian government will adhere to terms in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that set the stage for repealing those sanctions, while warning the U.S. needs to be prepared to reverse that if Syria falters on its progress.
"Many Members of Congress, committed to seeking peace, prosperity, and tolerance for religious minorities in the region, worked with the Trump Administration and House leadership to secure assurances that snapback conditions regarding the repeal of Syrian sanctions would be enforced if Syria does not comply with the terms highlighted in the repeal language," their joint statement read.
Already, American and Gulf countries have signed deals with the new rulers in Damascus for oil and gas exploration, as well as rebuilding port infrastructure.
Syria’s Al-Sharaa THANKS Trump as country marks first day ‘FREE OF SANCTIONS’ pic.twitter.com/0nYNYkYnqX
— RT (@RT_com) December 19, 2025
"Lifting the sanctions was the frontrunner in our mission to revive Syria’s economy," Abdulkader Husrieh, Syria’s central bank governor, said Friday in reaction to the news. "What has happened is nothing short of a miracle."