President Donald Trump took to social media Friday to issue a direct warning to terrorists “evil enough to attack Americans,” as U.S. forces launched what is being described as a "massive" retaliatory campaign against Islamic State targets in Syria.
The escalation came as the United States carried out extensive air and artillery strikes against ISIS, The New York Times reported. The show of force fulfilled Trump’s vow to avenge the deaths of two U.S. Army soldiers killed in a terrorist attack in central Syria last weekend, the Times added.
As the strikes were underway Friday, Trump posted a lengthy message on his Truth Social platform, where he issued a blunt threat to America’s enemies.
“Because of ISIS’s vicious killing of brave American Patriots in Syria, whose beautiful souls I welcomed home to American soil earlier this week in a very dignified ceremony, I am hereby announcing that the United States is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible,” Trump wrote Friday.
“We are striking very strongly against ISIS strongholds in Syria, a place soaked in blood which has many problems, but one that has a bright future if ISIS can be eradicated,” the president told his followers, adding that “the Government of Syria, led by a man who is working very hard to bring Greatness back to Syria, and is fully in support.”
Then came Trump’s warning: “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.”
He signed the post, “DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
The operation involved U.S. fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery salvos, and was expected to last several hours into early Saturday morning, the Times reported. A U.S. official described the assault to the publication as a “massive attack.”