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Two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed and three other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by a lone member of the Islamic State group in central\u00a0Syria, the the U.S. military\u2019s Central Command said.<\/p>\n
The attack on U.S. troops in Syria is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.<\/p>\n
Central Command said in a post on X that as a matter of respect for the families and in accordance with Department of Defense policy, the identities of the service members will be withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified.<\/p>\n
U.S. Defense Secretary\u00a0Pete Hegseth\u00a0posted on X: \u201cLet it be known, if you target Americans \u2014 anywhere in the world \u2014 you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shooting took place near historic\u00a0Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syria\u2019s security force and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the\u00a0al-Tanf garrison\u00a0near the border with Iraq and Jordan.<\/p>\n
SANA said the attacker was killed, without providing further details.<\/p>\n
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the\u00a0Islamic State\u00a0group.<\/p>\n
Last month,\u00a0Syria joined\u00a0the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad\u00a0when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus.<\/p>\n
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. The interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, made a\u00a0historic visit\u00a0to Washington last month where he held talks with President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the group\u2019s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between\u00a05,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n
U.S. troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria \u2014 including Al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs \u2014 to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS, have been targeted in the past. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#U.S #service #members #American #civilian #killed #Islamic #State #ambush #Syria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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