“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 said. “The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation,” he warned. The attack on Saturday took place near Palmyra, an ancient city and UNESCO World Heritage Site that was heavily damaged during the long Syrian Civil War and the battle against the Islamic State. It was the first lethal attack on American forces in Syria since 2019, and the first attack on U.S. forces since dictator Bashar Assad was overthrown in December 2024.
Palmyra was used as a stronghold by the forces of dictator Bashar Assad from 2013 through 2015, when it was overrun and captured by the barbaric ISIS. Among the first things ISIS did after capturing Palmyra were murder its director of antiquities, ransack its tombs, and blow up its historic architecture, because ISIS theology held that the city’s ancient treasures were idolatrous insults to Islam.
According to a statement from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), “[T]wo U.S. service members and one U.S. civilian were killed, and three service members were injured, as a result of an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman” in Palmyra on Saturday. The gunman was “engaged and killed.” (Ed note: In Jonah's city of Nineveh which is near modern-day Mosul, Iraq, ISIS militants destroyed large parts of the ancient Wall of Nineveh.) (Read More)