President Donald Trump said Saturday that “we will retaliate” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in a Syria attack that the U.S. blames on the Islamic State group.
“This is an ISIS attack,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore. He paid condolences to the three Americans killed and said three others who were wounded “seem to be doing pretty well.”
The Attack
Two U.S. Army soldiers and an American civilian interpreter were killed in a suspected ISIS attack on Saturday by a lone gunman in central Syria, the U.S. military’s Central Command said. Three other U.S. soldiers were wounded in the ambush near historic Palmyra.
The attack targeted soldiers involved in ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the region and is under active investigation, according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan. The gunman was killed.
Central Command said in a post on X that as a matter of respect for the families and in accordance with Department of Defense policy, the identities of the service members will be withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified.
Conflicting Reports on Attacker’s Identity
According to TIME, a Pentagon official said the attack took place in an area where the Syrian government does not have control, and an initial assessment found it “was likely carried out by ISIS.”
However, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force.
Syria’s Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba told state-run television that the attacker was a member of the government security forces who was already under investigation. “On December 10, an evaluation was issued indicating that this attacker might hold extremist ideas, and a decision regarding him was due to be issued tomorrow, on Sunday,” Baba said.
Al-Baba added that Syrian authorities are looking into whether the gunman was an IS member or only carried its extreme ideology. He denied reports that suggested the attacker was a security member, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
U.S. Response
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Let it be known, if you target Americans – anywhere in the world – you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.”
Context
The attack on U.S. troops in Syria is the first to inflict fatalities since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.
The U.S. has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS. U.S. troops have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria, including al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs, to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS.
Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus. The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule. The interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with President Donald Trump.
IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.
U.S. troops have been targeted in the past. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.
