Trump pledges retaliation after 3 Americans are killed in Syria attack that the US blames on IS

DAMASCUS Syria AP President Donald Trump declared Saturday that there will be very serious retaliation after two U S provision members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group 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 he disclosed in a social media post The American president explained reporters at the White House that Syria s president Ahmed al-Sharaa was devastated by what happened and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U S troops Trump in his post disclosed al-Sharaa was extremely angry and disturbed by this attack Republican Sen Joni Ernst of Iowa disclosed the soldiers were members of the Iowa National Guard where she too once served Our Iowa National Guard family is hurting as we mourn the loss of two of our own and pray for the recovery of the three soldiers wounded she mentioned U S Central Command revealed three facility members were also wounded in the ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria Trump stated the three seem to be doing pretty well The U S military mentioned the gunman was killed in the attack Syrian executives mentioned the attack wounded members of Syria s safety forces as well The attack on U S troops in Syria was the first with fatalities since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago There will be very serious retaliation Trump explained on his Truth Social platform The Pentagon s chief spokesman Sean Parnell reported the civilian killed was a U S interpreter Parnell revealed the attack targeted soldiers involved in the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the region and is under operational scrutiny Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds mentioned in a declaration that the names of the deceased soldiers are being withheld until hours after next-of-kin notifications are complete Our hearts are heavy at present and our prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of our soldiers killed in action she noted The shooting took place near historic Palmyra according to the state-run SANA news agency which earlier declared two members of Syria s prevention force and several U S system members had been wounded The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the limit with Iraq and Jordan Syria s Interior Ministry spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba noted a gunman linked to IS opened fire at the gate of a military post He added that Syrian functionaries are looking into whether the gunman was an IS member or only carried its extreme ideology Later al-Baba noted that the attacker was a member of the Internal Measure force in the desert adding that he did not have any command post within the forces nor was he a bodyguard for the force commander Al-Baba added in an interview with state TV that several members have joined Internal Measure forces in the desert and they get evaluated on weekly basis He added that three days ago an evaluation was made for the attacker that concluded he might have extreme ideology and a decision was expected to be issued regarding his affair on Sunday but the attack occurred on a Saturday which is a day off for state institutions U S Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X 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 U S authorities made no reference in their statements to the gunman being a member of the Syrian defense forces When required about the matter a Pentagon official did not directly respond to the question but mentioned This attack took place in an area where the Syrian President does not have control The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military issues The U S has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS The U S had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule Al-Sharaa made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with Trump It was the first White House visit by a Syrian head of state since the Middle Eastern country gained independence from France in and came after the U S lifted sanctions imposed on Syria during the Assads rule Al-Sharaa led the rebel forces that toppled Bashar Assad in December and was named the country s interim leader in January Al-Sharaa once had ties to al-Qaida and had a million U S bounty on his head Last month Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in but the group s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country The United Nations says the group still has between and fighters in Syria and Iraq U S troops have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria including Al-Tanf garrison in the southeast to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS and have been targeted in the past One of the deadliest attacks occurred in in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U S system members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol Mroue informed from Beirut and Seung Min Kim from Washington Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect reference to Iraq Source