On the 13th (local time), three Americans, including two U.S. service members, were killed in Syria in an attack suspected to have been carried out by the extremist militant group Islamic State (IS).
According to CNN and others, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said in a statement that "an ISIS (the U.S. designation for Islamic State, or IS) gunman carried out an ambush, killing two U.S. service members and one civilian and wounding three U.S. service members."
Shawn Parnell, Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of War (defense), said the incident occurred while the U.S. casualties were carrying out a mission to contact a key leader in support of operations to defeat IS and counterterrorism. The Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), led by the U.S. military, has recently conducted joint military operations with Syrian government forces to mop up IS remnants in Syria.
According to Syria's state-run SANA news agency, U.S. forces and Syrian government troops on a field reconnaissance mission together in Palmyra in central Syria came under attack, leading to a firefight. The attacker was killed at the scene, and a U.S. military helicopter transported the wounded to the Al-Tanf U.S. military base.
Nour Eddin Albaba, Spokesperson for Syria's Interior Ministry, said the attacker killed that day belonged to government forces under the Interior Ministry and that, in a recent identity screening by the ministry, there were indications the person might have embraced the "takfiri" ideology of Sunni Islamic extremist groups such as IS.
As the news spread, U.S. President Donald Trump signaled retaliation. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said, "We will retaliate," adding, "The entire nation mourns the deaths of three great American patriots. We also wish the three wounded a speedy recovery."
He also said on the social media platform Truth Social, "We mourn the loss of three great American patriots—two soldiers and one interpreter—in Syria," adding, "We will carry out a strong retaliation."
The incident occurred after, in Dec. last year, Syrian rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted the Bashar Assad dictatorship and established an interim government. After the Assad regime's collapse, Syria had been seeking to normalize relations with the West, but this incident has put it in an embarrassing situation.