Three American soldiers were killed and two others wounded in an attack by a lone gunman in Palmyra, central Syria. The attack occurred while the US military was providing security outside a building where Syrian government officials were meeting with their counterparts.
President Donald Trump has vowed to retaliate against ISIS after the attack, calling it “an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria”. The Pentagon said that the soldiers were supporting counterterror operations against the Islamic State group when they came under fire.
The attack on Saturday was one of the first American casualties in Syria since the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad. It highlights the ongoing danger in the region and the challenges for the Syrian government, which is struggling to build a new national military after nearly 14 years of civil war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth condemned the attack, saying “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.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/world/middleeast/us-forces-attacked-syria.html