Two US soldiers, interpreter killed in ISIS ambush in Syria, Pentagon says
The deadliest attack on American troops in Syria in years comes as the Pentagon aims to reduce its footprint while building trust with Damascus-aligned forces to take on ISIS together.
WASHINGTON – Two US Army soldiers and an American military interpreter were killed, and three other US troops were wounded, in what the Pentagon said was an ambush near the Syrian city of Palmyra on Saturday.
The incident, which the Pentagon’s US Central Command attributed to “an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman,” marked the deadliest attack on American troops in Syria since at least 2019.
The attacker “was killed by partner forces,” a reference to local Syrian militias armed and trained by the United States, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X.
The incident occurred during a “key leader engagement” in the Syrian city of Palmyra, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.
Palmyra lies just under 100 miles from the US military’s base of operations at the Al-Tanf garrison on Syria’s remote southern desert border with Iraq and Jordan.
“Their mission was in support of ongoing ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” Parnell’s statement wrote.
The attack comes at a sensitive time for the US military’s involvement in Syria. A planned drawdown of US troops to a smaller footprint in the country was quietly paused earlier this year amid concerns about the stability of the country following the December 2024 overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime by Islamist rebels.
Saturday’s incident in Palmyra remains under investigation by CENTCOM, US officials said. Pentagon officials are withholding information about the soldiers involved and their units until next-of-kin are notified.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
