Trump Promises Retaliation After Two U.S. Soldiers and Civilian Interpreter Killed in Syria
Two United States Army soldiers and an American civilian interpreter were killed in a suspected ISIS attack in Syria on Saturday, the Pentagon announced.
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Three other U.S. soldiers were wounded in the attack near Palmyra, according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, which occurred as U.S. forces were conducting ongoing anti-ISIS operations in the region alongside Syrian government troops.
A Pentagon official told TIME that 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.”
Noureddine el-Baba, a spokesman for Syria’s Interior Ministry, told state-run television channel Al-Ikhbariya 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.
Three local officials also told Reuters that the attacker was a member of the Syrian government security forces, the agency reported.
President Donald Trump paid tribute to the soldiers in brief remarks to reporters at the White House on Saturday afternoon, calling them “three great patriots.” When asked how the U.S. would respond to the attack, the President said: “We will retaliate.”
In a statement condemning the attack, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacker was killed by “partner forces,” referring to the Syrian army.
Read more: How Syria Can Forge a Lasting Peace
“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,” Hegseth said on X.
Syria’s state news agency said two Syrian military personnel were also injured in the attack.
Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and the Trump Administration’s special envoy to Syria, also condemned the attack and paid tribute to the soldiers.
“We mourn the loss of three brave U.S. service members and civilian personnel and wish a speedy recovery to the Syrian troops wounded in the attack,” Barrack said in a statement. “We remain committed to defeating terrorism with our Syrian partners.”
The attack comes just a month after Syria and the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS announced a political cooperation agreement during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said at the time that the agreement confirmed Syria’s role in “combating terrorism and supporting regional stability”.
President Barack Obama first deployed U.S. special operations forces to Syria in 2015 to advise and assist local Kurdish-led fighters battling ISIS, which at the time controlled large swathes of the country.
The Pentagon has previously said that a core force of around 900 U.S. troops remains deployed in eastern Syria to continue anti-ISIS operations.
But President Trump has been outspoken in his desire to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, once referring to the country as little more than “sand and death.” In 2019, during his first term, Trump ordered Defense Secretary James Mattis to withdraw all U.S. troops from the country. Mattis pushed back against the plan and ultimately resigned in protest. Trump later withdrew most troops, before redeploying some of them.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials told NBC that the Trump Administration was drawing up plans for a full withdrawal of troops from the country. The Pentagon declined to comment on the report, but Trump said at the time: “I don’t know who said that. I mean, I don’t know who said that, but we’ll make a determination on that. We’re not getting, we’re not involved in Syria,” Trump replied. “Syria is its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t need us involved in everyone.”
Trump has since developed a friendly relationship with Sharaa, Syria’s president and a former leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked group.
Sharaa renounced Al-Qaeda and rebranded his rebel army before sweeping to power one year ago this week, ousting the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and ending more than 50 years of Assad family rule.
This is a developing story.