Trump Vows Retaliation After Two U.S. Soldiers and an Interpreter Die in Syria

Two U.S. Army soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter were killed Saturday when a gunman attacked a joint U.S.-Syrian patrol during a mission with Syrian forces, with Syria’s state news agency SANA placing the attack near Palmyra, and President Donald Trump promised “very serious retaliation,” according to CBS News and NBC News.

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said three other service members were wounded and that the troops were conducting a “key leader engagement” in support of continuing counter-ISIS operations. The attack is under active investigation, he said, and the names of those killed will be withheld until 24 hours after next-of-kin notification. U.S. Central Command called it an ambush by “a lone ISIS gunman” who was engaged and killed.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacker was killed by partner forces, though he gave no details about who they were. “Let it be known, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you,” he wrote on X, according to CBS. No group has claimed responsibility, CBS reported, and the gunman has not been publicly identified.

Details of the attack are still contested. Syria’s state news agency SANA said two members of Syria’s security forces were wounded, CBS reported. A Pentagon official told NBC the attack happened in an area outside the control of Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. A spokesman for Syria’s Interior Ministry, Nour al-Din al-Baba, said on state television that internal security officials had warned partner forces in the Badia region about a possible Islamic State attack and that the U.S.-led coalition did not take the warnings seriously, according to NBC. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitor, reported the attacker was a member of Syria’s security forces; al-Baba said the person held no leadership role and was not escorting leaders at the time, NBC said.

Trump, speaking outside the White House before leaving for the Army-Navy game in Baltimore, said the wounded “seem to be doing well” and said of the dead, “We mourn the loss of three great patriots in Syria.” He said Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed” by the attack and added that if U.S. forces were attacked again, “We will retaliate,” CBS reported. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, condemned a “cowardly terrorist ambush” and said the U.S. remains committed to defeating terrorism with its Syrian partners.

The deaths come as Washington has re-engaged with Damascus since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad. NBC reported that the United States and other nations have re-engaged with Sharaa’s government and that the U.S. military has about 2,000 troops in Syria, mainly in the northeast; CBS described the deployment as hundreds of troops in eastern Syria. The troop counts differ between the outlets.

NBC said U.S. forces in Syria work with local security forces to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State.