Trump pledges retaliation after two US soldiers, one civilian interpreter killed in Syria

By Eyad Kourdi, Natasha Bertrand

(CNN) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that there will be “very serious retaliation” after two US soldiers and one civilian interpreter were killed in an ambush in Syria on Saturday.

Three others were wounded in the attack, which was carried out by a single ISIS gunman, US Central Command and the Department of Defense said in statements Saturday.

“We will retaliate,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He said the country is mourning “the loss of the three great American patriots” and praying for the three wounded, who “seem to be doing pretty well.”

The president noted the US’ cooperation with Syrian forces. “Syria, by the way, was fighting along with us,” Trump said, adding that Syria’s new president is “devastated by what happened.”

The soldiers’ “mission was in support of on-going counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” wrote Sean Parnell, chief spokesperson for the Pentagon, in a statement on X. He added that the names of those killed were being withheld until next of kin are notified.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the attacker 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 wrote on X.

Minutes after Trump spoke to reporters, he repeated his warning of retaliation in a social media post, calling the incident “an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” and saying Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa “is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

“There will be very serious retaliation,” Trump wrote.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned the attack on Saturday.

“We extend our condolences to the victims’ families and to the US government and people, and we wish the wounded a speedy recovery,” al-Shaibani wrote on X.

In November, al-Sharaa became the first Syrian head of state to visit the White House, as Damascus seeks closer ties with the US after the fall of the Assad dictatorship last year.

“He’s a very strong leader,” Trump told reporters at the time, calling al-Sharaa “a tough guy from a tough place.” The visit came after the US partially lifted sanctions on Syria earlier this year, marking a major shift in relations between the two countries.

The deadly attack comes a month after Syria joined the US-led coalition, which was formed in 2014. The coalition has conducted military operations against ISIS in Syria and Iraq with the participation of multiple countries.

US troops have operated for years across multiple locations in Syria, including at the Al-Tanf garrison in the Homs province, where they trained Syrian partner forces as part of the wider fight against ISIS. American personnel have previously come under attack, and Saturday’s incident is the deadliest since a 2019 blast in the northern town of Manbij that struck a patrol, killing two US service members and two US civilians.

ISIS has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.

A Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson said Syrian forces had issued intelligence warnings to US-led forces and that the assailant was known to authorities ahead of the deadly attack.

Nour Eddin al-Baba told Syrian state television that leadership in the country’s Internal Security Forces in the Badia region had alerted the US-led international coalition against ISIS in Syria about preliminary information “indicating a possible breach or expected ISIS attacks.”

“However, (coalition) forces did not take the Syrian warnings into account,” al-Baba said.

He said the attack happened as leaders from the coalition and Syria’s Internal Security Forces carried out a joint tour earlier Saturday in the Badia region. The delegation later entered a “fortified command facility” belonging to the Syrian Internal Security Forces leadership, where the assailant opened fire at the gate.

The attacker, who al-Baba said had been under evaluation for extremist ideas, exchanged fire with Syrian and coalition guards before being neutralized, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said an assessment taken on Wednesday indicated the attacker may have held extremist ideas. The result of that test was due to be issued on Sunday, “but fate decreed that the attack took place on Saturday, which is an administrative holiday,” al-Baba said.

CNN has reached out to US Central Command for more information on the incident.

Traffic on the highway between Deir Ezzor and Damascus was halted on Saturday in connection with the incident, and video showed US combat aircraft overhead.

“U.S. helicopters intervened to evacuate the wounded to the al-Tanf base following the shooting incident,” official Syrian national news agency SANA reported. Al-Tanf is a US base in eastern Syria on the border with Iraq.

This story was updated with additional information.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.

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