Trump vows retaliation after US soldiers killed in Syria attack
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US President Donald Trump speaking to the media after two US Army soldiers and an interpreter were killed in Syria on Dec 13.
PHOTO: AFP
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- Trump promised "serious retaliation" after an ISIS attack in Syria killed two US soldiers and an interpreter, wounding three others.
- The attack, confirmed by US Central Command, involved a lone ISIS gunman ambushing the group in Palmyra, an area outside Syrian government control.
- US forces, numbering around 1,000, are in Syria combatting ISIS remnants with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after President Assad's ouster.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said there will be “serious retaliation” after two US Army soldiers and an interpreter were killed in what officials said was an attack by an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) gunman that also wounded three other Americans.
“This was an ISIS attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” Mr Trump wrote in a social media post on Dec 13.
“There will be very serious retaliation,” Mr Trump said in the post.
The president did not elaborate on what the retaliation might be, either in the post or in comments to reporters as he left the White House to attend the Army-Navy football game on Dec 13.
A statement from US Central Command said the group was ambushed by a lone gunman
The attack occurred in the city of Palmyra while the soldiers were conducting counter-terrorism operations, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a separate statement.
Palmyra is outside the control of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Mr Al-Sharaa met Mr Trump at the White House in November, securing additional sanctions relief. He promised to join a US-led coalition to defeat the ISIS.
The US has about 1,000 service members stationed in Syria, according to a Pentagon official.
The Pentagon is withholding the identities of the victims until 24 hours after their families have been notified.
US forces have been working with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to combat remnants of ISIS forces following Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. BLOOMBERG
