On Friday, American armed forces mounted the biggest anti-ISIS operation in years against Islamic State positions inside Syria. More than 70 targets were hit by fighter jets, attack helicopters, and rocket artillery — a mission, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, that was designed “to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites.”
Ostensibly, the operation was purely retaliatory. On December 13, two U.S. soldiers and a civilian who served as an interpreter were killed, and three more U.S. service personnel were wounded, in an ISIS-affiliated ambush. “As we said directly following the savage attack, 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,” Hegseth wrote.
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