Illustrative image. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. William Howard)
Two United States Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed and three other soldiers were wounded on December 13 in an attack in the central Syrian city of Palmyra, the Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed.
In a statement, the command said the attack by a lone gunman occurred “as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement” with Syrian security forces.
“Partner forces” killed the gunmen, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth later wrote on X, referring to Syrian security 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,” he said.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria who is very close to the President Ahmad al-Sharaa, condemned the attack.
“We mourn the loss of three brave U.S. service members and civilian personnel and wish a speedy recovery to the Syrian troops wounded in the attack,” Barrack said in a statement. “We remain committed to defeating terrorism with our Syrian partners.”
Reuters later reported, citing three local officials, that the gunman who carried out the attack was a member of the Syrian security forces.
Saleh al-Hamoui, a former commander of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist rebel group that overthrew the Assad regime last year and established the current government, military and security forces in Syria before dissolving – was the first to reveal this.
In a post to Telegram, al-Hamoui said that the gunman was the bodyguard of Palmyra’s security chief Abu Jaber “Sufyan”. He was identified by other Islamist activists as “Tariq Satouf al-Hamad”.
A Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson told a state-run television channel that the gunman did not have a leadership role in the security forces.
“On December 10, an evaluation was issued indicating that this attacker might hold extremist ideas, and a decision regarding him was due to be issued tomorrow, on Sunday,” the spokesperson, Noureddine el-Baba, told Syrian television channel Al-Ikhbariya.
Baba said Syria had warned the U.S. about the possibility of an ISIS attack in that region but that “coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings… into account.”
He added that the country would determine whether the attacker was linked to IS or merely subscribed to the group’s ideology.
A senior U.S. official told Reuters that initial assessments indicated that ISIS probably carried out the deadly attack. President Donald Trump, however, later held the terrorist group responsible for the attack in a post to his Truth Social Network.
“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. The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation,” he wrote.
This was the first attack to target U.S. troops in Syria since it joined the coalition last month. The country’s accession to the coalition came after a landmark meeting on November 10 between Trump and Sharaa – the former leader of HTS – at the White House.
The attack was not surprising at all. Over the past year, there have been multiple warnings of ISIS infiltrating the new military and security institutions in Syria.
The government has so far prioritized the recruitment of former members of HTS and its allies, including foreigners, maintained a strict Islamist ideology, and refused to allow any former officers back into service, or to include members from minority groups.
Many of the radicals who now dominate the military and security forces are not happy with the decision to join the coalition. The attack in Palmyra, orchestrated by ISIS or not, was likely just the beginning of an insurgency that could quickly evolve into a power struggle within the government.
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ra’ad sa’ad has been eliminated. the terrorist behind hamas’ weapons production headquarters. am yisrael chai.
more inferior americunts polluting poisoning syrian worms
takes one to know another shit hole. you think you know them all so who must be the biggest shit hole sitting on the wall
might just be you there, rambo
you mean like these “americans” raided in port charlotte, florida i think where they refused to join the war of independence.
the day before the biggest drug bust in history.
fbi seizes luxury cars in charlotte county raid. gulf coast news you tube
everyone knows the dealers often drive flashy cars and they use car clctions as their laundries. and palm trees are the symbols saying we’re pedophiles here. allegedly.
and like this.
£17 m british paki property empire seized after ncaa destroyed birmingham network | uk true crime
you tube.
typical.
or these americans
” white house reveal sparks political firestorm as new indictments drop” kerri lane. you tube
your mob of americans. like attracts.
and who made her “director”? use your nut.
we will retaliate trump said. he knows the secrets media aren’t allowed. the truths classified obviously. yesterday the biggest drug bust in history was conducted by italys police against the mafia operating from syria.
and who didn’t report on it?????? who didn’t want the world to know? who kept their traps shut and pretended they were three monkeys? that’s the clear clue to who’s who in their zoo.
their circus.
” we must figure out who we can trust in syria, expert cautions” is all fox news has to say.
go figure
all of them incriminating themselves by omission as usual. it’s always what they won’t say that incriminate them.
“fbi raids americas second largest rail company in calfornication drug and weapons seized us mliitary.” you tube
and they, all in together set up as the”well respected members of the community ”
globally. well, military intelligence has powers above those of police to spy and harvest from community valued members activities. transparent as plastic bags anyway.
allegedly.
or here in pope leo prevost ( not his real family name, an assumed name or something like that anyway) mafia headquarters in america, chicago homebase…
“over stepped his authority: court blocks release of illegal immigrants arrested in chicago ice raids” you tube
now in ireland where a school teacher has been imprisoned for life, they say, for not addressing a trans gender child by the chosen pronouns
but the school board declaring that’.. it’s either him or us……is very disturbing what isn’t he revealing what threats are driving him? from whom?
“its him or us” chairman of school board that fired enoch burke “…. you tube.
on transparency and passive aggressive psychosis blatantly revealing themselves…
here’s an amusing little attempt
“how the us kicked the british empire out of america to protect venezuala”. you tube.
,” happy wednesday” she declares gleefully announcing americas imminent bankruptcy. wednesdays child full of woe as the saying normally goes.
” the 23 trillion propertty scam that will bankrupt america – vexler you tube.allegedly.
another excuse for america to go to war for a certain country in the middle east?
in italy yesterday the police busted the biggest drug bust in history operating with the mafia out of syria eighty tonnes of speed tablets. being trafficked from syria into italy for global distribution no doubt.. we have t seen the footage of them destroying the catch.allegedly.
they’ll get the network, all the agents globally operating as the distributors, from the higher levels of the pyramid ponzi pill popping kingdom. allegedly.
another excuse for you and your alternative emails to post more propagandas
cool. war for drugs, just like venezuela. you got me convinced.
yankee go home! what the hell are they doing in syria?
does it matter? jusa is illegally occupying syria. any form resistance is welcome.
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… really… i’m so scared 😱 wait for me and you will see me fighting the exceptionals in land, sea, air, and space
tattooed beach queer pete hegseth has ‘let it be known’ that any more sneaky ‘pull my pants down’ acts from behind shenanigans and i ‘ will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly bitch slap you’
to call hts aka al quaida in syria the syrian security forces is like calling some french nazi colaborateurs the officeal french military in world war 2.
well fuckin done !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!