Two U.S. soldiers and one civilian U.S. interpreter were killed in Syria on Saturday after they were ambushed by a likely ISIS gunman, U.S. officials said.
The gunman was killed by “partner forces” during a skirmish, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Three other service members were injured during the incident in Palmyra, Syria, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. Two U.S. officials told ABC News the wounded were American.
“The attack occurred as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement. Their mission was in support of on-going counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” Parnell said in a statement.
This marked the first combat deaths since President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.
Trump took to social media Saturday to express his condolences for the fallen soldiers, and condemn the attack.
“The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he said in the post.
Trump claimed the incident was an “ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them.”
The president echoed his statements with brief remarks to the press Saturday, reiterating as he walked away from reporters, “We will retaliate.”
The identities of the soldiers were not immediately revealed due to ongoing next-of-kin notifications, officials said.
The three American fatalities in today’s attack in Syria are the first combat deaths in that country since 2019 when four Americans were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Manbij, Syria.
Prior to Saturday, there had been 10 U.S. military deaths in Syria, including a mix of hostile and non-hostile deaths. The most recent U.S. military death in Syria was a non-hostile death in February 2022.
