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(REUTERS)
Two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria on Saturday by an armed assailant affiliated with the terrorist organisation ISIS, who targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, the US military said.
The attack occurred barely a month after Syria announced it had signed a political cooperation agreement with the US-led coalition against ISIS, which coincided with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's visit to the White House.
The attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces, but a Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson told a state-run television channel that the man did not have a leadership role.
"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," the spokesperson, Noureddine el-Baba, told Syrian television channel Al-Ikhbariya.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, US President Donald Trump vowed "very serious retaliation," mourning the loss of "three great patriots". He described the incident in remarks to reporters as a "terrible" attack.
Three US soldiers were also wounded in the attack, the US military's Central Command said.
In a statement, Central Command said the attack by a lone gunman occurred "as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement" in the central Syrian town of Palmyra. "Partner forces" killed the attacker, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote in a social media post.
The deceased soldiers' names will be withheld until 24 hours after the next-of-kin notification, the US military said.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a security source as saying two Syrian service personnel were also injured, without providing further details. The source told SANA that American helicopters evacuated the injured to a US base in Syria's Al-Tanf region.
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, condemned the attack. "We mourn the loss of three brave US 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."
