The U.S. military said it carried out multiple airstrikes across Syria early on Saturday (10 January) as part of an operation that began last month, after it said Islamic State militants killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter in an attack on 13 December.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes targeted Islamic State positions throughout Syria.
The Pentagon declined to provide further details, and it remains unclear whether there were any casualties. About 1,000 U.S. troops remain deployed in the country, the military said.
The developments come as U.S. President Donald Trump has been presented with several potential options for strikes on Iran, U.S. media reported.
The New York Times said Trump had been briefed on scenarios including possible attacks on sites in Tehran that are not part of Iran’s military infrastructure. Officials cited by the paper said no final decision had been taken, but that Trump was seriously considering authorising military action.
A senior U.S. military official said commanders would require time to reinforce American positions in the region and prepare for possible Iranian retaliation.
The Wall Street Journal reported that preliminary discussions within the administration had also included the possibility of large-scale strikes on Iranian military facilities, although officials said no unified plan had yet been agreed and no deployments had been ordered.
Iran is facing its largest anti-government demonstrations in years amid economic collapse and political discontent.
Tehran fought a 12-day war with Israel last year, and its nuclear facilities were bombed by the U.S. in June.
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, according to U.S. officials who said the call focused on the war in Gaza, unrest in Iran and developments in Syria, declining to provide further details.
Syria’s government, led by former rebels who toppled Bashar al-Assad in 2024 after 13 years of civil war, has been cooperating with a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House late last year, when Damascus reached a new security agreement with Washington.
Meanwhile, Israel and Syria agreed earlier this week during U.S.-mediated talks in Paris to establish a communication mechanism on security and commercial issues. Washington has proposed a demilitarised economic zone along parts of the Israel–Syria border.
Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, Netanyahu has visited the United States five times, while Trump travelled to Israel in October.
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All six U.S. service members aboard a plane that crashed in western on Iraq on Thursday have died, the U.S. military confirmed on Friday (13 March). Meanwhile, one French soldier was killed in a drone attack in the Erbil region of northern Iraq, President Emmanuel Macron announced.
Iran reacted to the UN Security Council resolution condemning attacks on U.S. bases in regional countries, saying it neglected Tehran’s right to self-defence and demonstrated that the world body is being misused as an instrument to serve Washington’s interests.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has set recognition of Tehran’s inalienable rights, payment of war compensation, and international guarantees against any future invasion as conditions for ending the U.S.–Israel war with the Islamic Republic.
Fifteen Turkish-owned vessels remain stranded in the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, Türkiye’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued veiled threats to Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and Hezbollah on Thursday (12 March), during his first press conference since the conflict with Iran began.
Israel and Iran continued to exchange strikes on Friday (13 March), as the U.S. and French militaries reported deaths in Iraq, and the U.N. launched a $325 million appeal to help Lebanon, where a seventh of the population have left their homes since fighting began.
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Ayman Ghazali, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, crashed his truck into the hallway of a Detroit-area synagogue on Thursday (12 March) while children attended preschool. Security personnel shot him dead during the confrontation, and authorities said no one else was seriously injured.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday (14 March) that many countries are interested in purchasing Russian oil after the United States temporarily eased sanctions on certain exports.
An explosion lightly damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam early on Saturday (14 March) in what the city’s mayor described as “a deliberate attack against the Jewish community.”
Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery and a key port in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region overnight (13-14 March), local authorities said, causing injuries and damage. In separate action, Russian air attacks on Ukrainian territory killed and wounded civilians near Kyiv, officials reported.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 13rd of March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
North Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile on Saturday (14 March), Japanese and South Korean officials said. The development comes amid the joint annual U.S.-South Korea "Freedom Shield" military drills and South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's visit to Washington.
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