{"id":49224,"date":"2025-12-31T19:07:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/12\/31\/a-year-of-strikes-us-military-operations-surge-under-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:05:11","slug":"a-year-of-strikes-us-military-operations-surge-under-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2025\/12\/31\/a-year-of-strikes-us-military-operations-surge-under-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"A year of strikes: US military operations surge under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Donald Trump has presided over a rapid surge of U.S. military activity abroad since returning to the Oval Office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first year of his second term, he has authorized a series of strikes ranging from the unprecedented use of bunker-buster bombs<\/a> against Iran\u2019s most fortified nuclear sites to a sustained counternarcotics campaign off the Venezuelan coast<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who has labeled himself a \u201cpeace president,\u201d frames the expansion of force as a strategy of \u201cpeace through strength.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his inaugural ball in January<\/a>, he declared, \u201cWe will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end \u2014 and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump added that his \u201cproudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since taking office on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump has overseen at least 626 air strikes, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project that was shared with Military Times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By comparison, his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, launched a total of 555 strikes in his entire four-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is where the U.S. military operated overseas in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somalia \u2013 Feb. 1 and ongoing<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first major strike in the second Trump administration targeted the Islamic State in Somalia<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said<\/a> the strikes aimed to degrade ISIS\u2019 ability to \u201cplot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaign has continued in the region, representing a sustained U.S. military presence against ISIS affiliates in East Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq \u2013 March 13<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A U.S.-led coalition strike<\/a> in Iraq\u2019s Anbar Province killed ISIS\u2019 second-highest ranking leader, Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, and one other insurgent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq\u2019s prime minister described al-Rifai<\/a> as \u201cone of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly, anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, April 18, 2025. (Osamah Abdulrahman\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yemen \u2013 March 15 to May 6<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In mid-March, the Trump administration began an air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strikes targeted command-and-control hubs, air defense systems and facilities used for manufacturing and storing advanced weapons, according to the Pentagon<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offensive \u2014 which used JASSM long-range cruise missiles, JSOWs and Tomahawk missiles \u2014 surpassed $1 billion in costs within its first month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operation concluded on May 6 following an Oman-brokered ceasefire with the Houthis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran \u2013 June 22 <\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Operation Midnight Hammer<\/a> deployed seven B-2 stealth bombers from Missouri\u2019s Whiteman Air Force Base to strike Iran\u2019s deeply buried nuclear facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bombers dropped 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrators on Fordo and Natanz, while a U.S. Navy submarine in the region launched more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at Isfahan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, in a primetime address, declared the mission achieved \u201ctotal obliteration\u201d of Iran\u2019s enrichment capabilities, though Tehran disputed that assessment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon estimates the military strikes likely set back Iran\u2019s nuclear program by up to two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine discusses the mission details of a strike on Iran, June 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean \u2013 Sept. 2 and ongoing<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since September, the U.S. military has waged a sustained campaign of lethal maritime strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, part of what the Trump administration says is an attempt to dismantle powerful drug cartels and stop the flow of Venezuelan narcotics into the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump boasts that the deployment involves the \u201clargest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,\u201d<\/a> and pledged it will \u201conly get bigger.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 106 people have been killed<\/a> in strikes on alleged drug-carrying vessels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syria \u2013 Dec. 19<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Operation Hawkeye Strike<\/a> was launched by Trump to avenge the deaths of two U.S. soldiers, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, and a civilian U.S. interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, killed in a terrorist attack in Syria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

American fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery struck more than 70 suspected ISIS targets across central Syria, according to CENTCOM<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operation was named in honor of the fallen soldiers from Iowa, the \u201cHawkeye State.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A U.S. airman prepares an A-10 Thunderbolt II for flight from a base in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, Dec. 19, 2025. (U.S. Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria \u2013 Dec. 25<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On Christmas Day, Trump announced the U.S. carried out airstrikes against ISIS in Nigeria<\/a>, Africa\u2019s most populous country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president said he acted to protect Christians who he asserts are being \u201cmass slaughtered\u201d by \u201cradical Islamists,\u201d and chose the date for symbolic reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were going to do it earlier,\u201d Trump said in an interview. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018nope, let\u2019s give a Christmas present.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operation involved more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea and was coordinated with the Nigerian military. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venezuela \u2013 December and ongoing<\/b> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The C.I.A. reportedly carried out a drone strike on a facility in Venezuela<\/a> \u2013 the first known U.S. attack inside the country since the Trump administration intensified its pressure campaign against the government of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strike targeted a dock along Venezuela\u2019s coast that officials said was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua to store narcotics and potentially prepare them for shipment, according to CNN. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump has presided over a surge of U.S. military activity abroad since returning to the Oval 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