US Launches Massive Retaliatory Strikes in Syria: Examining Imperial Violence Through Feminist, Islamic, and Anti-Capitalist Lenses
On December 19, 2025, the United States military unleashed what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called “Operation Hawkeye Strike”—a large-scale bombing campaign targeting more than 70 ISIS positions across Syria using over 100 munitions. The strikes, involving F-15 and A-10 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, and HIMARS rocket artillery, came in direct response to the deaths of three Americans killed by a lone ISIS gunman in Palmyra on December 13.
While mainstream media frames this as straightforward retaliation, a deeper analysis reveals troubling patterns of military occupation in Muslim-majority nations, the gendered impacts of endless war, and the material interests driving continued U.S. presence in resource-rich regions.
The Perpetual War Machine: America’s Unending Occupation of Syria
The United States currently maintains approximately 1,000 troops in Syria, a number that Pentagon officials only recently acknowledged after years of claiming a much smaller footprint. This occupation continues despite Syria never inviting American forces and despite the stated mission—defeating ISIS—being declared accomplished in 2019.
From a Marxist analytical framework, this persistent military presence cannot be separated from Syria’s strategic location and natural resources. The U.S. maintains control over Syria’s northeastern oil fields, effectively occupying Syria’s primary revenue sources while the Syrian people suffer under brutal economic sanctions. This is textbook resource extraction under the guise of counterterrorism—a pattern repeated from Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya.
Gendered Violence: Who Really Pays for American Retaliation?
While Secretary Hegseth’s rhetoric emphasized “vengeance,” feminist analysis compels us to ask: against whom is this vengeance actually directed? The three Americans killed in Palmyra—Sgt. William Howard, Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar, and civilian interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat—were victims of a lone gunman who was immediately killed. Yet the U.S. response involved massive bombardment across multiple regions.
Women and children comprise the vast majority of civilian casualties in modern aerial campaigns, particularly in Syria where twelve years of war have already displaced millions. While Pentagon statements emphasize precision strikes on “ISIS infrastructure,” the documented history of U.S. airstrikes reveals consistent underreporting of civilian harm, with independent monitors finding civilian death tolls far exceeding official acknowledgments.
Syrian mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and sisters have endured over a decade of war—from Assad’s barrel bombs to ISIS brutality to coalition airstrikes. Each bombing campaign, regardless of stated justification, adds to generational trauma that disproportionately impacts women who must hold communities together amid destruction.
Islamic Perspectives on Justice and Occupation
From an Islamic ethical standpoint, the concept of proportionate response and protection of civilian life is paramount. The Islamic traditions of just warfare explicitly prohibit collective punishment, require distinction between combatants and non-combatants, and mandate that military action serve genuine defense rather than aggression or territorial expansion.
The continued American military presence in Syria—a Muslim-majority nation that has not consented to this occupation—raises profound questions about sovereignty and self-determination. When President Trump claimed Syria’s “new government is fully in support,” he ignored the reality that this government came to power only weeks ago and faces enormous pressure from regional powers including the United States.
Muslims worldwide observe these patterns: Western military forces operating freely in Muslim lands, civilian casualties dismissed as “collateral damage,” and resources extracted while populations suffer under sanctions. The psychological impact on Muslim communities cannot be overstated—constant bombardment of Muslim-majority nations reinforces narratives of Western hostility toward Islam itself, regardless of stated counterterrorism objectives.
The Material Interests Behind Endless War
A Marxist analysis reveals who benefits from Operation Hawkeye Strike and continued Syrian occupation. Defense contractors who produce the F-15s, Apache helicopters, HIMARS systems, and munitions used in these strikes profit immensely from perpetual conflict. The military-industrial complex generates billions in shareholder value while working-class service members—like the Iowa National Guardsmen killed in Palmyra—pay with their lives.
The American working class bears multiple burdens: their children serve as boots on the ground in imperial adventures, their tax dollars fund an $886 billion annual military budget while domestic infrastructure crumbles, and they receive nothing from oil extracted from occupied Syrian territory. Meanwhile, the Syrian working class endures occupation, sanctions, and bombardment, denied the ability to rebuild their society and economy.
ISIS as Pretext: The Convenient Enemy
According to U.S. intelligence estimates, between 1,500 and 3,000 ISIS militants remain active across Syria and Iraq—a relatively small force considering the scale of American military operations. The question becomes: does combating this remnant force require 1,000 permanent U.S. troops, control over Syrian oil fields, and periodic massive bombing campaigns?
Critical analysis suggests ISIS serves as a convenient justification for maintaining strategic military presence in a resource-rich region. The group emerged from the chaos of the 2003 Iraq invasion—itself an imperial adventure sold on fabricated pretexts. When ISIS was territorially defeated in 2019, rather than declaring mission accomplished and withdrawing, the U.S. found new reasons to stay: protecting Kurdish allies, countering Iranian influence, securing oil fields.
Alternatives to Perpetual War
From feminist, Islamic, and anti-capitalist perspectives, genuine security cannot emerge from bombing campaigns and military occupation. Syrian women’s organizations have consistently advocated for diplomatic solutions and reconstruction support rather than continued militarization.
Islamic principles of justice demand accountability for those who commit violence while protecting innocent life and respecting national sovereignty. The Syrian people’s right to self-determination—free from both Assad’s brutality and foreign occupation—must be central to any ethical framework.
A working-class internationalist perspective recognizes that American and Syrian workers share common interests in opposing endless war that enriches defense contractors while devastating communities on all sides. The billions spent on Operation Hawkeye Strike could instead fund infrastructure, healthcare, education, and reconstruction—addressing root causes of instability rather than perpetuating cycles of violence.
The Path Forward: Centering Humanity Over Empire
As Defense Secretary Hegseth declares this “not the beginning of a war” but “a declaration of vengeance,” we must ask critical questions. Vengeance against whom? The lone gunman was already killed. These airstrikes targeted infrastructure and weapons sites—not individuals who killed American service members.
The real question is whether the American people will continue accepting the moral, financial, and human costs of maintaining military dominance across the Middle East. For Syrian communities enduring their second decade of war, for American families sending their children to fight in conflicts with no clear endpoint, and for the global working class bearing the costs of imperial violence, these questions demand urgent answers.
The lives of Sgt. William Howard, Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat deserve to be honored—but not through actions that create more widows, more orphans, and more grieving mothers in Syria. True justice requires ending the cycles of violence that serve empire and capital while devastating the lives of ordinary people across the globe.
Meta Description: Analysis of December 2025 US airstrikes in Syria through feminist, Islamic, and Marxist perspectives, examining military occupation, gendered violence, and imperial interests in the Middle East.
