December 22nd, 2025: U.S. Unleashes Massive Ground and Air Assault in Syria & Another Tanker Boarded Off Venezuela
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It's Monday, the 22nd of December. Look at that. We are just around the corner from Christmas Day. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And, of course, a big congratulations to Ole Miss, taking down Tulane 41-10 in the first round of the college football playoffs. Next up, the Rebels take on Georgia on New Year's Day. As the kids say, that's going to be a barn burner. I don't know if the kids actually say that anymore. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a major U.S. military response in Syria. American and coalition forces targeted ISIS positions this weekend in one of the largest strikes in years. We'll walk you through the operation and what it might tell us about the fight ahead.
Later in the show, U.S. forces move on a third oil tanker in the Caribbean in the continuing effort to disrupt Venezuela's illicit crude oil operations. Plus, some good news for Ukraine, as European Union leaders approve a massive 90 billion euro loan to support Kiev's ongoing war effort and economy. And in today's back of the brief, well, it's return to sender. Turkey may send Russia's S-400 air defense systems back to Russia in hopes of reopening the door to U.S. F-35 fighter jets. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. This weekend, the U.S. carried out a series of large-scale air and ground strikes against Islamic State targets inside Syria, one of the most significant American attacks on ISIS in years.
We told you last week on the PDB about the deadly ambush that set this in motion, the killing of two U.S. soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter while they were operating near Palmyra in Syria. And now the Trump administration has delivered what it promised, a decisive military response. According to U.S. officials, American forces struck more than 70 ISIS targets across central Syria using fighter jets, attack helicopters, rocket artillery, and precision-guided munitions. In total, more than 100 precision weapons were used, aimed squarely at ISIS weapons depots, infrastructure sites, and operational hubs. The operation has been named Operation Hawkeye Strike, honoring the Iowa National Guard soldiers who were killed and wounded in the ambush.
U.S. F-15 strike fighters and A-10 attack aircraft, better known as warthogs, were joined by Apache helicopters and HIMARS rocket systems. Jordanian F-16s also took part in the operation, meaning this wasn't just an American response. U.S. Central Command described the operation as a, quote, massive strike and made it clear it was retaliatory in nature. The attack that triggered the response took place at a fortified Syrian internal facility near Palmyra. Alone, ISIS gunmen at that time opened fire as American personnel were supporting a meeting with Syrian officials. Two U.S. soldiers were killed, three others wounded, along with a U.S. civilian interpreter and a Syrian officer who was also killed.
All of this, of course, is unfolding at a very sensitive time for Syria. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad late last year, the country's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaf, has been trying to stabilize the country and rebuild relationships with Washington and regional partners. That cooperation had already begun to pay dividends. U.S. and Syrian coordination in recent weeks led to raids in Syria and Iraq that killed several ISIS militants and detained others. Operations that produced new intelligence on ISIS weapons depots and infrastructure that U.S. forces had not previously identified. According to reports, that intelligence directly fed into this weekend's action. ISIS, for its part, appears to be deliberately testing this new arrangement.
U.S. military assessments indicate the group is attempting to destabilize Syria's new government and disrupt its growing counterterrorism operations with the United States.
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