Two U.S. soldiers and one civilian U.S. interpreter were killed in an ambush in Palmyra, Syria, on Saturday by an apparent ISIS gunman, officials said, according to Baltimore Chronicle. The attacker was subsequently killed by “partner forces,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reported.
Three other service members were injured during the incident, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement. Two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News that the wounded were Americans. Parnell noted that the attack occurred while the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement, part of ongoing counter-ISIS and counter-terrorism operations in the region.
This incident marks the first combat deaths of U.S. personnel in Syria since President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office. On Saturday, Trump expressed condolences for the fallen soldiers on social media and condemned the attack, describing it as an “ISIS attack against the U.S. and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria not fully controlled by them.”
“The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump added in his post. He reiterated the message to reporters, stating, “We will retaliate.”
The identities of the soldiers have not yet been released due to ongoing next-of-kin notifications, officials said. The three fatalities in Palmyra are the first combat deaths in Syria since 2019, when four Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in Manbij. Before Saturday, there had been ten U.S. military deaths in Syria, including both hostile and non-hostile incidents. The most recent U.S. military death in Syria had been a non-hostile incident in February 2022.
Earlier we wrote that Justice Department Sues Fulton County Over 2020 Election Records in Latest Legal Move.
