A deadly ambush that claimed the lives of two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter on Saturday is now believed to be the work of an Islamic State infiltrator hiding within local security ranks, according to multiple sources briefed on the investigation.
The attack, which President Donald Trump has vowed will be met with “very serious retaliation,” occurred during a joint mission near the historic central town of Palmyra. In addition to the three fatalities, two members of the Syrian security force were wounded in the firefight.
According to U.S. Central Command, the gunman was engaged and killed at the scene. While no group formally claimed immediate responsibility, Joe Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, characterized the incident as an “insider terrorist attack.”
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Sources indicate the shooter was embedded with a local security unit operating in the Badia region, an area currently under the jurisdiction of the Syrian government. Syrian officials revealed Sunday that the gunman was already on their radar; Noureddine al-Baba, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told state television that authorities had planned to fire the man on Sunday for holding “extremist Islamist ideas.”
In the wake of the security breach, a Syrian official confirmed to Agence France-Presse that 11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning.
The incident marks the first U.S. fatalities in the region since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime one year ago. It comes amid a significant thaw in diplomatic relations between Washington and Damascus following the end of the Assad family’s five-decade rule.
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who made a historic visit to Washington last month, was described by President Trump as “extremely angry and disturbed” by the violence.
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“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Approximately 900 U.S. troops remain deployed in eastern Syria, primarily stationed at the al-Tanf base near the borders of Iraq and Jordan and in the Kurdish-controlled northeast. The deployment is part of an ongoing coalition effort to combat Islamic State remnants and counter Iranian influence in the region.
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