The attack occurred in the central Syrian town of Palmyra during a counter-ISIS engagement.
Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed, and three others were injured in an ambush by an ISIS gunman in Syria on Dec. 13, according to the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on social media that the attack occurred in the central Syrian town of Palmyra as U.S. forces were conducting a key leader engagement in support of ongoing counter-ISIS and counterterrorism operations.
“Today in Palmyra, Syria, two United States Army soldiers and one civilian U.S. interpreter were killed, and three were wounded,” Parnell said, adding that the incident is under active investigation.
U.S. Central Command said the casualties resulted from “an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman,” who was engaged by U.S. forces and killed.
The names of the fallen U.S. soldiers and identifying information about their units are being withheld pending notification of their next of kin. Officials said the information will be released no sooner than 24 hours after families have been notified, in line with Department of War policy.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) mourned the slain soldiers, saying that the incident is a reminder of the cost of freedom.
“The price of freedom is not free,” he said in a post on social media.
“Today, we mourn two U.S. soldiers and an interpreter lost in a tragic attack. As a veteran—and the son of a soldier who just spent a year deployed—my heart breaks for these families. We honor their sacrifice and pray for their loved ones.”
Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a security source, reported that two Syrian service members were also wounded in the attack, without giving further details.
SANA reported that U.S. helicopters evacuated the wounded to a U.S. base in Syria’s Al-Tanf region near the Iraqi border.
Earlier, two local Syrian officials told Reuters that a convoy of Syrian military forces and U.S.-led coalition troops came under fire.
The United States maintains troops in northeastern Syria as part of an international coalition seeking to prevent a resurgence of the ISIS terrorist group, which lost its territorial control in Syria in 2019, but continues to carry out sporadic attacks.
By Tom Ozimek
