Reuters is reporting that the gunman who killed two U.S. service members and one civilian interpreter in central Syria was a member of the Syrian government’s security forces, Reuters is reporting.
The incident occurred during a joint U.S.-Syrian patrol or meeting in central Syria as part of counter-ISIS operations. The attacker opened fire at close range and was quickly killed, officials have said.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) described it as an ambush by a “lone ISIS gunman” who was killed by partner forces, without specifying his affiliation.
According to a report from Reuters citing three local officials, the attacker was a member of Syria’s security forces. A Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson acknowledged the attacker was in the security forces but “did not have a leadership role.”
The gunman had been under evaluation for potential extremist ties since December 10 and a decision on his status was pending at the time of the attack.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with the Russian government on October 15, 2025
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that two U.S. service members and a civilian interpreter were killed in the attack, adding that the identities of the soldiers and the units involved would be withheld for 24 hours while families are notified.
President Donald Trump the fallen Americans as “three great patriots” and vowed to retaliate while speaking with reporters outside the White House on Saturday.
The fragile Syrian government’s security forces are a collection of jihadist and opposition groups that were hastily molded into a regular army following the toppling of longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last winer.
Syria is currently governed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of Al Qaeda’s official offshoot in Syria. The group took on several different names, the last being Hayat Tahrir-al Sham (HTS), and has been implicated in several war crimes over the course of the 13-year civil war in Syria.
This includes beheadings, massacres of prisoners and civilians, as well as destruction of religious sites belonging to Syria’s religious minorities.
Al-Sharra, who was then known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani, attempted to win support from western governments in the late 2010’s by stating that his group’s jihadist days are in the past. “There were some violations against them [minorities] by certain individuals during periods of chaos, but we addressed these issues,” Julani told CNN when asked about the atrocities committed by his organization during the war.
“No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them,” he added.
His government has since won support from several western and regional powers, including the United States, which established diplomatic ties with Syria for the first time in decades earlier this year. Al-Sharra met with President Donald Trump back in November, who expressed optimism about his leadership.
Groups loyal to the patchwork Syrian government have committed several well-documented atrocities since taking power last winter, however, including a brutal massacre of Alawites in the nation’s coastal provinces in March 2025. Bashar al-Assad is a member of the sect, as were a number of senior officials in his government.
Widespread massacres have also been committed against Syria’s Druze minority, while attacks have also been reported against Christians and other minority groups.
Despite the volatile situation, the U.S. has worked with the Syrian government in hopes of somehow stabilizing the war-torn country. “We don’t have an embassy in Syria. It’s operating out of Türkiye. But we need to help them. We want to help that government succeed because the alternative is full-scale civil war and chaos, which would of course destabilize the entire region,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers this past June.
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