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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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that any U.S. military attack on Iran would spark a wider regional conflict, Iranian semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.
U.S. and Russian representatives held talks in Florida on Saturday as part of Washington’s efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The U.S. State Department has approved potential foreign military sales to Israel worth about $6.52 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The U.S. military has warned it will "not tolerate unsafe" actions by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as Tehran announced it will conduct live-fire naval exercises next week in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping routes.
Catherine O’Hara, the celebrated Canadian actress and comedy legend, has died at the age of 71, her publicist confirmed on Friday. She passed away at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday made public more than three million pages of documents on Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, including investigative records referencing Donald Trump, tech mogul Elon Musk and Britain’s former Duke of York, Prince Andrew.
The United Nations faces the risk of “imminent financial collapse” because of unpaid contributions, including substantial arrears from the United States, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned.
Vladimir Putin said Russia earned more than $15 billion from defence exports in 2025 and fulfilled all military-technical contracts despite what he described as growing pressure from Western countries.
Explosions shook parts of southern Lebanon on Friday night as Israeli strikes rippled across the Zahrani district, with the blasts travelling toward the coastal city of Sidon.
Israel has reopened Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt in what Israeli media described as a “pilot operation,” marking the first opening of the crossing in two years.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu has arrived in China for an official visit, where he is due to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss international and regional security issues, Russian state media reported on Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington may be able to reach a deal with Cuba, days after he threatened tariffs on any country supplying the island with oil.
Xi Jinping praised China–Algeria co-operation on Saturday following the successful launch of an Algerian remote sensing satellite from northwest China, calling it another milestone in bilateral space ties.
U.S. president Donald Trump said Iran is “seriously talking” with the United States and expressed hope that negotiations could lead to an outcome acceptable to Washington.
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