2 US Army soldiers, interpreter killed in Syria ambush attack
Two U.S. Army soldiers and a U.S. interpreter were killed Saturday in an ambush attack in Syria carried out by a “lone ISIS gunman,” officials said.
“Today in Palmyra, Syria, two United States Army soldiers and one civilian U.S. interpreter were killed, and three were wounded,” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X. U.S. Central Command added that the deaths and injuries were a “result of an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman in Syria.”
“The attack occurred as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement. Their mission was in support of ongoing counter-ISIS/counter-terrorism operations in the region,” Parnell said, noting that “The soldiers’ names, as well as identifying information about their units, are being withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin notification. “
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth added that, “The savage who perpetrated this attack was killed by partner forces.”
“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,” Hegseth also said in a post on X.
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Parnell said the attack is currently under investigation. A Pentagon official told Fox News Digital that the attack unfolded in a place where the Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa does not have control.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for further comment.
A senior U.S. official earlier confirmed to Fox News there were multiple injuries after American service members were ambushed in Syria.
“The United States, CIA and military forces are reportedly deeply involved in securing and stabilizing the situation in Syria,” Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, recently told Fox News Digital.
The injured in Saturday’s attack were taken by helicopters to the al-Tanf garrison, which is near the border with Iraq and Jordan, The Associated Press reported, citing Syrian state media.
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As of June, the U.S. had about 1,500 troops left in Syria following withdrawals and consolidations ordered by the Pentagon, and that number was expected to drop to just several hundred by the end of this year, according to Fox News Chief National Security correspondent Jennifer Griffin.
Griffin reported that the U.S. had eight bases in Syria to keep an eye on ISIS since the U.S. military went in to prevent the terrorist group from setting up a caliphate in 2014, although three of those bases have since been closed down or turned over to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
On Monday, tens of thousands of Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus to mark the first anniversary of the Assad regime’s collapse.
Those celebrations came a year after former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled the capital as rebel forces swept through the country in a lightning offensive that ended five decades of Assad family rule and opened a new chapter in Syrian history.
Fox News’ Ashley Oliver, Jennifer Griffin, Benjamin Weinthal and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
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