2 US soldiers and civilians killed, others injured after shelling Syrian airstrike in Syria, Pentagon says
Two US military personnel and a US citizen were killed after being shot and fired at the site of the attack along with Syrians targeting a city in central Syria on Saturday, US military officials said.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to X that the attack occurred as the military conducted a “critical leadership meeting.” He said three other members of the service were injured in the incident.
“Their mission was to support the ongoing live operations-abdominal / counter-terrorism in the region,” he said, adding that the names of the soldiers, as well as identifying information about their units, will be withheld until the next 24 hours with Kin’s notice. “This attack is currently under active investigation.”
The US high command said the attack “was the result of an ambush by Isis with a branch in Syria,” and that “the gunman was ambushed and killed.”
The shooting took place near Palmyra, according to Stomu-Run Stomun Agency in Syria, in which two members of the Syrian security forces were injured. Additional details on their condition were not immediately available.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and ownership of the gun has not been released.
Defense Secretary Pete Hette Hegseth said in an X-post on Saturday that “the rescuers who carried out this attack were killed by our partner’s forces.”
“Let’s face it, if you look at the American people – anywhere in the world – you will spend your short, boring life knowing the United States will hunt you down, find you,” he wrote.
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and the special envoy for Syria, condemned the “terrorists” in X.
“We mourn the loss of three members of the U.S. military and U.S. government employees and wish a speedy recovery to the Syrian forces injured in this attack,” Barrack wrote. “We are committed to defeating terrorism with our Syrian partners.”
The US has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group.
Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting ISIS as Damascus improved its relations with the West following the fall of the previous President Bashar al-Assad When the rebels captured his seat of power in Damascus.
The US had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the collapse of the Assad family’s five-year summit. The interim President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, made a historical tour In Washington last month, where he held talks with President Trump.
Isis was defeated in Syria in 2019 but the group’s sleeper cells are still under deadly attack in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 in Syria and Iraq.
The US military, which has maintained a presence in various parts of Syria – including the Al-Tanf Garrison in the central province of the home – to train other forces as part of a wider campaign against it, has been referred to previously. One of the most deadly attacks in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij where two American soldiers and two American citizens, as well as others from Syria, were killed while driving a passenger.
