Likewise, we pray for the three injured soldiers who, it has just been confirmed, are doing well. 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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The attack occurred outside a building in Palmyra where officials from Syria’s Interior Ministry had travelled from Damascus to meet their local counterparts. According to a US official, American soldiers and their interpreter were outside the building when a lone gunman opened fire from a nearby structure with what appeared to be a machine gun. Three additional American service members were wounded, as were two members of the Syrian security forces.
The American soldiers who were killed were part of an Iowa National Guard contingent assigned to the Syria mission, according to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. US Central Command said the wounded Americans were evacuated by helicopter to the al Tanf garrison near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders, where they received medical treatment.
The US Central Command (USCENTCOM) on Saturday (local time) stated the attack as they characterised it as an ambush by a lone ISIS-linked gunman, who was engaged and killed during the incident.
Glenn Ignazio warns of complex threats from ISIS and insider attacks, urging Syria to verify forces and boost defense posture.
A Syrian security forces member launched an attack on Syrian and U.S. military personnel in Palmyra over the weekend, according to three local officials speaking to Reuters.
A spokesperson from the Syrian interior ministry confirmed on Al-Ikhbariya TV that while the attacker belonged to their ranks, he did not hold a leadership position, though they did not clarify his exact rank.
(December 9, 2025)
A year after Israeli forces entered southern Syria, crossing into a UN buffer zone and in some cases beyond, its occupation remains and the frequency of the Israeli military raids on towns is increasing. An Israeli incursion in the town of Beit Jinn at the end of November left at least 13 Syrians dead, including two children.
Residents say they have traded the tyranny of Assad for a military occupation. Checkpoints are now operated by Israelis, not Assad officers. Night-time raids and phone searches continue.
(June 24, 2025)
The U.S. and the SDF stayed clear of Syria’s civil war, which led to the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.
The country’s new president is Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist rebel group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that swept to power last December and has vowed to establish a tolerant, multi-ethnic state.
After months of deliberation, the U.S. has thrown its support behind the new Syrian leader. President Trump announced last month that he would lift sanctions on the country, a decision he made with encouragement from Saudi Arabia while Trump was in the Middle East.
(April 23, 2025)
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East chief at the National Security Council, Eric Trager, rebuffed Israeli and northeast Syrian officials in the last several weeks, saying that the US is transitioning from a “military to political role” in northeast Syria and that the drawdown of US troops would continue, the sources told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions.
“Israel is opposed to the US withdrawing from northeast Syria,” one former US official told MEE. “They want to see the US extract concessions from Turkey on demilitarisation before any American boots leave Syrian soil.”
(April 16, 2025)
Israel has been kept in the loop about plan that could see US troop presence shrunk from 2,000 to 1,000; Jerusalem fears it will increase Turkey’s ‘appetite’ to control Syria.
(…)
Trump announced a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria during his first term but never followed through completely. Then too, Israel opposed the move, expressing concern that an American withdrawal would create a power vacuum in the region, allowing Tehran to expand its military entrenchment near the Israeli border.
(April 16, 2025)
The U.S. military has about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria across a number of bases, mostly in the northeast. The troops are working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that consolidation could reduce the number of troops in Syria to about 1,000.