The Syrian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement extending “its condolences to the families of the Syrian and American security personnel who were killed in the terrorist attacks that took place in Palmyra and northern Syria.” The statement reiterated Syria’s “firm commitment to fighting the Islamic State.” A US official told CNN that since the December 13 attack, US forces and partner forces have carried out 10 operations that resulted in the killing or arrest of approximately 23 individuals. On December 14, Syria’s Ministry of Interior said that its units carried out an operation in Palmyra to arrest five suspects accused of involvement in the killing of US service members in “coordination with the General Intelligence Directorate and the International Coalition forces.”
Archiv: West Asia War / Syria war and decay after invasion / 2025
US launches retaliatory strikes in Syria on dozens of ISIS targets
Hegseth said „Operation Hawkeye Strike“ was carried out in Syria „to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on U.S. forces that occurred on Dec. 13 in Palmyra, Syria.
U.S. Central Command also confirmed in a statement that Jordanian fighter aircraft also participated in Friday’s strikes.
„This is not the beginning of a war — It is a declaration of vengeance,“ said Hegseth.
US War Department Says ‘No Force Posture Changes’ in Syria After Three Americans Killed
(December 15, 2025)
“Currently, we have no force posture changes to announce,” a War Department official told Antiwar.com when asked if the Trump administration was planning to withdraw from Syria.
The US withdrew a few hundred soldiers from Syria earlier this year, but the comment signals a full withdrawal isn’t on the table. There are currently around 1,000 US troops in the country, a Pentagon official told The New York Times.
We mourn the loss of three Great American Patriots in Syria, two soldiers, and one Civilian Interpreter.
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
Insider attack in Syria? What we know about the ambush that killed 2 Americans
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.
‚ISIS attack‘ on US troops: Trump vows ‚very serious retaliation‘ — what we know so far
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.
Military expert outlines U.S.-Syria response after insider attack on American personnel
Glenn Ignazio warns of complex threats from ISIS and insider attacks, urging Syria to verify forces and boost defense posture.
Insider Attack in Palmyra: Security Officer Strikes
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.
‘We’re living in terror’: fears in southern Syria over Israel’s growing occupation
(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.
US Needs Troops in Syria to Stop ISIS Comeback, CENTCOM Nominee Says
(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.
US rebuffed Israeli demands to keep more US troops in northeast Syria, sources say
(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.”
US military said poised to slash troops in Syria; Israel seeks to limit reduction
(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.
US military poised to slash troops in Syria, officials say
(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.
Israel, Russia, and the United States Are Testing the Boundaries of Global Order
(September 12, 2025)
As I’ve discussed at length recently, we have already witnessed the death of the global trading system as we have known it. But this slide away from the rules-based system isn’t limited to trade. It is evident in the use of military force as well.
Three examples of unilateral military action over the past couple weeks are particularly instructive:
(…)
That is the real Hobbesian peril. Each of these actions can be seen as an isolated instance, but if one or two or three countries take kinetic action unilaterally, it risks creating a permission structure where others feel there are no guardrails to constrain them.
It’s not just Gaza. From the West Bank to Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s onslaught continues
(December 1, 2025)
Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the region
Israeli forces penetrate Quneitra countryside
This comes a day after a similar incursion into the village of al-Samdaniyah al-Gharbiyah, where Israeli forces set up a checkpoint at the crossroads leading to the villages of al-Mushairifeh, al-Sa‘aydah, and Rweihinah, south of Quneitra, according to the same sources.
These daily Israeli movements continue without any response from the Syrian Transitional Government.
Israeli forces kill at least 13 people in southern Syria raid, officials and residents say
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli forces raided a Syrian village and opened fire when they were confronted by residents Friday, killing at least 13 people, Syrian officials said, in the deadliest Israeli attack since troops seized a swath of southern Syria a year ago.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry called the attack a “horrific massacre” and said women and children were among those killed.
LIVE: Israel bombs Syria, Gaza after extrajudicial killings in West Bank
– At least 13 Syrians have been killed and others wounded during an Israeli ground incursion and air strikes on the town of Beit Jinn, southwest of Syria’s capital Damascus.
– Palestine’s Foreign Ministry is demanding action from the international community to halt Israel’s “war crime” as it continues its large-scale military assault on the occupied West Bank.
Security Council must seize ‘moment of renewed hope’ in Gaza
The ceasefire in Gaza is largely holding but recent violence by Israel and Palestinian militants put the truce at risk, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Monday.
Ramiz Alakbarov briefed on conditions in the battered enclave and the occupied West Bank, before touching on developments in Lebanon and Syria.
“Today we meet at a moment of renewed hope,” he said, speaking from Jerusalem.
“While progress on the ground is fragile and deep uncertainty persists, we must seize the opportunity before us to chart a better future for Palestinians, Israelis and the wider region.”
WATCH: Rising Israeli attacks cast doubt on regional peace initiatives
(video)
Israel’s military carries out strikes in Lebanon and Gaza, killing dozens of people
(November 19, 2025)
The new wave of strikes came a day after an airstrike killed 13 people in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, the deadliest of Israeli attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago.
Meanwhile, after Israel reported its soldiers were fired on in southern Gaza, health officials in the territory said Israeli strikes killed at least 25 Palestinians in one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the Oct. 10 ceasefire agreement took effect. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to a buffer zone in Syrian territory that Israel seized last year.
Far-left candidate who called Israel ‘terrorist state’ elected president of Ireland
“If we in this Dáil can’t recognize that Israel is a terrorist state, then we’re in serious trouble,” she said in a video shared on her campaign’s Facebook page in June, referring to the lower house of the Irish legislature where she served. She went on to criticize Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, its military conduct in Gaza, and other Israeli policies.
Connolly, 68, is a long-time critic of the European Union in overwhelmingly pro-EU Ireland. She was backed by the left-dominated opposition, was not a household name, and was underestimated by many at the start of the campaign.
this is the biggest blunder in American history. Mark my words
(December 9, 2023)
WATCH: Is Israel using the Druze to expand hegemony in region?
Israel claims it has attacked Syria to protect its Druze minority, but analysts say its primary goal is to “divide and weaken” the country while expanding its hegemony in the Middle East.
Syrian Bedouins ‚massacred‘ by Druze anti-government militias, says state media
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, a Druze spiritual leader who has been critical of the new Syrian government, has been accused of leading the main armed anti-government groups in Sweida.
Syrian army withdraws from Sweida after ceasefire
Following clashes with local Bedouin tribes that resulted in over 100 deaths, Syrian government soldiers entered Sweida on Tuesday with the claimed goal of enforcing a truce that was agreed upon with leaders of the Druze community. Witnesses, however, claimed that during a violent rampage across the city, government forces allied with the Bedouin to target Druze combatants and civilians. Earlier this evening, it was reported that the death toll had topped 300.
Turkey says ceasefire in Syria may take place within hours
16 July 2025 20:05 BST
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that a ceasefire could take hold in Syria within the next three to four hours, as Israeli military strikes continue to target Syrian government forces in Sweida and Damascus.
“By working together with the Americans, I hope that
US calls upon Syria to pull out troops in southern border
16 July 2025 19:23 BST
The statements were made after fighting between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern city of Sweida hours following a ceasefire agreement.
Israel bombs Damascus, stoking conflict with Syria’s new government
Israel on Wednesday launched what it said were “dozens” of strikes across Syria, including in the capital, escalating a conflict with a fledgling government that was already grappling with domestic unrest in which scores of people have been killed.
Israel tied Wednesday’s strikes and others this week to that internal conflict, saying it was attacking forces of the new Islamist government to protect the Druze minority.
Syria announces ceasefire after latest outbreak of deadly sectarian violence
Syria’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children.