Donald Trump has vowed a “very serious retaliation” against Syria after two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed, allegedly by an ISIS gunman.
The lone male attacker opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol near the city of Palmyra before being “engaged and killed”, according to the US Central Command.
An unnamed Syrian military officials told the AFP the incident happened during a meeting between American and Syrian soldiers while discussing ISIS.
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Speaking before departing for an Army-Navy football game in Maryland, the US President said the nation will mourn “three great patriots”.
“These are three great people,” he told reporters at the White House.
“It’s just a terrible thing. Syria by the way was fighting along with us. The new president of Syria is devastated by what happened. This was an ISIS attack on us and Syria.
Asked by a journalist if the US will retaliate against ISIS, Mr Trump said: “Yeah, we will.”
The leader of the free world later posted to Truth Social warning of a “very serious retaliation” while offering condolences to the loved ones of those killed.
At least three soldiers were also injured, but are “doing well”, Mr Trump said.
The attack is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the US.
Syria’s foreign minister condemned an attack on Saturday.
Damascus “strongly condemns the terrorist attack that targeted a joint Syria-US counter-terrorism patrol near Palmyra”, said Asaad al-Shaibani in a post on X.
“We extend our condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the American government and people, and wish the wounded a speedy recovery.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the attack occurred as the soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
“The savage who perpetrated this attack was killed by partner forces,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X.
Mr Parnell said the identities of the deceased troops would be withheld until after their families were notified.
‘Prior warnings’ of potential IS ‘infiltration’
A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said the shots were fired “during a meeting between Syrian and American officers” at a Syrian base in Palmyra.
A witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said he heard the shots coming from inside the base.
However, a Pentagon official speaking on the condition of anonymity told AFP that the attack “took place in an area where the Syrian President does not have control”.
In an interview on state television, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Anwaral-Baba said there had been “prior warnings from the internal security command to allied forces in the desert region” of a potential IS “infiltration”.
“The international coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings of a possible IS infiltration into consideration,” he said.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, the meeting came as part of an “American strategy to strengthen its presence and foothold in the Syrian desert”.
SANA reported that helicopters had evacuated the wounded to the Al-Tanf base in southern Syria, where American troops are deployed as part of the Washington-led global coalition against the IS group.
Last month, during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s historic visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the coalition.
IS seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014 during Syria’s civil war, before being territorially defeated in the country five years later.
Its fighters however still maintain a presence, particularly in Syria’s vast desert.
US forces are deployed in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.
-with AFP
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