How the Syrian attacker managed to get close to American troops and open fire. Trump has promised “severe retaliation”
The Syrian gunman who killed two US soldiers and an American civilian interpreter on Saturday was to be fired from the Syrian security forces because of his extremist views, according to Syrian and US officials, cited by the NYT.
The US sent reinforcements following the attack PHOTO via X
The attack took place in the central Syrian city of Palmyra and marked the first American casualties in the country since the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad a year ago, highlighting the fragile security landscape for the new Syrian government.
Three other U.S. service members and two members of the Syrian security forces were also wounded in the attack, which Syrian and U.S. officials attributed to Islamic State, the jihadist group that once controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq. The group has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but US President Donald Trump has vowed tough retaliation against ISIS.
In an interview broadcast on Syrian public television late Saturday, Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba revealed that the attacker – shot dead in the attack – was a former member of government security forces. The attacker did not hold a high-ranking position and was not part of the security team, he said.
Al-Baba said a routine assessment last week found the man had “extremist” views and was to be fired the following day.
How was the attack possible?
The Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the attacker “infiltrated” a meeting between Syrian forces and a delegation of a US-led multinational coalition created to fight ISIS. It is not clear how the man got to the meeting site, a Syrian army headquarters, to carry out the armed attack outside the building, according to al-Baba and a US official.
A senior US official said the attacker was a former member of the Syrian security services or was in the process of being dismissed, but was not part of the security forces stationed in Palmyra at the time of the attack. U.S. officials declined Sunday to specify the nature of the meeting or confirm whether U.S. officials were present.
Syria is investigating whether the attacker had direct ties to the Islamic State or was only motivated by its ideology, according to a spokesman for the Syrian Interior Ministry.
Government forces detained five people in Palmyra in an operation carried out in coordination with the US-led coalition, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.
Since the rebel coalition toppled the Assad regime, President Ahmed al-Sharaa has faced threats from Islamic State and other armed groups. The latest attack signals the challenges facing Syria as it tries to break free from a 13-year civil war and decades of authoritarian rule.
The US has reduced its presence in Syria
Arab and Western nations, including the United States, have taken steps to bolster President al-Sharaa's vision for a new Syria, but repeated outbreaks of violence have raised doubts about the sustainability of the country's security gains.
The attack on American soldiers on Saturday came months after the United States began reducing its military presence in Syria from about 2,000 troops at the start of the year to about 1,000, according to a Pentagon official.
On Sunday, residents of Palmyra expressed their fears and frustration that the desert city – famous for its Roman-era ruins before it was conquered by Islamic State at the height of its power – would once again be stigmatized by association with the terror group.
“Palmyra will be connected to Daesh again,” commented Zahir Saleem, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
“They don't want that,” he said.
Donald Trump has vowed retaliation following the attack
The US president also attributed the attack to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, writing on Truth Social: “This was an ISIS attack against the US and Syria in a very dangerous part of Syria that is 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.”
The incident took place in Palmyra, where the troops were “conducting a key interaction between leaders,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed.
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, said: “I strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist ambush that targeted a joint US-Syrian government patrol in central Syria.”
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned: “If you attack Americans – anywhere in the world, you will spend the rest of your short and anxious life knowing that the United States will hunt you down, find you, and kill you without mercy.”
The incident came just weeks after President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Donald Trump held talks at the White House, a meeting the Syrian leader described as marking a “new era” in bilateral relations.
Although ISIS has lost all territorial control in Syria since 2019, the UN estimates that between 5,000 and 7,000 of the militants continue to operate in Syria and Iraq, launching attacks constantly.
