Damascus -- Syria announced on Sunday it had dismantled an ISIS cell in a Damascus suburb and arrested seven people, as part of a move to step up operations against ⁠the group after a deadly attack on US troops last weekend.

The raid on a "hideout" in Daraya led to guns and ammunition being seized, along with what appeared to be stashes of Syrian and US banknotes. The Interior Ministry said the funds were being "prepared to finance terrorist activities".

It is the latest of several moves against ISIS announced since an attack on US forces in Palmyra, with Syria's leadership under pressure from the US and others to show it can clamp down on extremists despite its own rebel roots.

Special units of Syria's internal security forces, as well as its General Intelligence Service, carried out the "well-planned security operation in the Daraya area, targeting a hideout of the ISIS terrorist organisation", the ministry said.

It said the operation took place after "accurate investigations and intelligence information, and continuous monitoring of the movements of the group's movements during the past weeks".

The raid "resulted in the complete dismantling of the terrorist cell, and the arrest of its leader and six members", the ministry said. Several weapons and ammunition "intended for use in their terrorist activities" were seized, it added.

"This operation is part of an ongoing strategy to dry up the sources of terrorism, prevent any threat to community security, and achieve peace and stability."

Two US Army soldiers ‍and an interpreter were killed the attack in Palmyra last week by a renegade member of Syria's security personnel, officials said. Three other US soldiers were wounded.

In retaliation, the US military launched large-scale strikes on ​dozens of ISIS targets in Syria on Friday. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the strikes targeted "ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapons sites" in what was known as Operation Hawkeye Strike.

"This is not ‍the beginning of a war – it is a declaration of vengeance," Mr Hegseth said. "Today, we hunted and ⁠we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue."

US President Donald Trump said on social media that the Syrian government fully supported the strikes and that the US was inflicting "very serious retaliation".

At a speech in North Carolina on Friday night, Mr Trump called it a "massive" blow against the ISIS members that the US blames for the December 13 attack on coalition forces. "We hit the ISIS thugs in Syria … it was very successful," Mr Trump said.

Following the US strikes, Syria's Foreign Ministry said the country was committed to fighting ISIS and "ensuring that it has no safe havens in Syrian territory, and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat".

Syria's government is led by former rebels who toppled president Bashar Al Assad last year after a 13-year civil war, and includes members of Syria's former Al Qaeda branch who broke with the group and clashed with ISIS.

Syria has been co-operating with a US-led coalition against ISIS, reaching an agreement last month when President Ahmad Al Shara visited the White House.