DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — President Donald Trump mentioned Saturday that “we’ll retaliate” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian had been killed in a Syria assault that the U.S. blames on the Islamic State group.
“That is an ISIS assault,” the American president instructed reporters on the White Home earlier than departing for the Army-Navy soccer sport in Baltimore.
He paid condolences to the three People killed and mentioned three others who had been wounded “appear to be doing fairly effectively.”
Two U.S. service members and one American civilian had been killed and three different individuals wounded in an ambush on Saturday by a lone member of the Islamic State group in central Syria, the U.S. navy’s Central Command mentioned.
The assault on U.S. troops in Syria is the primary to inflict fatalities because the fall of President Bashar Assad a 12 months in the past.
Central Command mentioned in a publish on X that as a matter of respect for the households and in accordance with Division of Protection coverage, the identities of the service members will likely be withheld till 24 hours after their subsequent of kin have been notified. The gunman was killed, it mentioned.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell mentioned the civilian killed within the assault was a U.S. interpreter. He mentioned the assault focused troopers concerned within the on-going counter-terrorism operations within the area and is beneath energetic investigation.
The taking pictures occurred close to historic Palmyra, in response to the state-run SANA information company, which earlier mentioned two members of Syria’s safety pressure and several other U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties had been taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison close to the border with Iraq and Jordan.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned the attacker was a member of the Syrian safety pressure.
Syria’s Inside Ministry spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba mentioned a gunman linked to IS opened fireplace on the gate of a navy publish. He added that Syrian authorities are wanting into whether or not the gunman was an IS member or solely carried its excessive ideology. He denied studies that urged that the attacker was a safety member.
U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Let it’s identified, if you happen to goal People — wherever on the earth — you’ll spend the remainder of your transient, anxious life understanding the US will hunt you, discover you, and ruthlessly kill you.”
The U.S. has tons of of troops deployed in jap Syria as a part of a coalition combating IS.
Final month, Syria joined the worldwide coalition combating towards the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western nations following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of energy in Damascus.
The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria beneath Assad, however ties have warmed because the fall of the five-decade Assad household rule. The interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, made a historic go to to Washington final month the place he held talks with President Donald Trump.
IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 however the group’s sleeper cells nonetheless perform lethal assaults within the nation. The United Nations says the group nonetheless has between 5,000 and seven,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.
U.S. troops, which have maintained a presence in numerous components of Syria — together with Al-Tanf garrison within the central province of Homs — to coach different forces as a part of a broad marketing campaign towards IS, have been focused prior to now. One of many deadliest assaults occurred in 2019 within the northern city of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians in addition to others from Syria whereas conducting a patrol.
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Mroue reported from Beirut and Seung Min Kim from Washington.
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An earlier model of this story gave an incorrect reference to Iraq.
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