Two US soldiers, interpreter killed in ISIS ambush in Syria, Pentagon says |
WASHINGTON – Two US Army soldiers and an American military interpreter were killed, and three other US troops were wounded, in what the Pentagon said was an ambush near the Syrian city of Palmyra on Saturday.
The incident, which the Pentagon’s US Central Command attributed to “an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman,” marked the deadliest attack on American troops in Syria since at least 2019.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday afternoon, US President Donald Trump said that despite the deaths of three US personnel in the attack in Syria today, the other three wounded US troops “seem to be doing pretty well.”
“This was an ISIS attack on us and Syria,” Trump said. “We will retaliate.”
The attacker “was killed by partner forces,” a reference to local Syrian militias armed and trained by the United States, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a post on X.
The incident occurred during a “key leader engagement” in the Syrian city of Palmyra, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement. “Their mission was in support of ongoing ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” Parnell’s statement read.
A US official........