A suspected Islamic State attack killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter, plus injured three more people, in central Syria on Saturday. The incident occurred a little over a month after Syria, under the new interim government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, officially joined the multinational U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. The killing of American troops so early in joint operations and patrols with the new Syrian military arguably underlines the danger in rushing the integration of America’s established longstanding ally against ISIS, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, into this new national army.

According to U.S. Central Command, an ambush executed by a lone ISIS gunman in Syria’s Palmyra killed the three Americans. Syrian state media reported that two Syrian military personnel with the Americans were also injured. They killed the assailant. Videos showed U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets and A-10 attack planes buzzing over Palmyra and dropping flares after in a show of force.

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported that the attacker was a member of Syria’s new security forces. Concluding its brief report, the monitor called for Syria’s “Ministries of Defense and Interior to get rid of former regime members and those with ‘ISIS’ ideology.”

ISIS remnants have long operated in the desert regions of central Syria around Palmyra, which features iconic Roman-era ruins that the militants previously captured. Aside from damaging parts of the ancient site during the civil war, ISIS used its beautiful amphitheater as a stage for grisly executions they recorded for their propaganda films.

The U.S.-backed SDF captured the remaining territories of the self-styled ISIS caliphate in Syria in March 2019. Since then, the group has........

© Forbes