Name: Americans ambushed and killed in Syria, Trump blames ISIS
Uploaded: 2025-12-14T07:59:29.797Z
Duration: 2 min 9 s
Description: Two U.S. Army soldiers and an American civilian serving as an interpreter are dead after a lone gunman in Syria ambushed their patrol near Palmyra. No group has claimed responsibility, but President Trump is blaming ISIS. Willie James Inman reports.

Two U.S. Army soldiers and an American civilian serving as an interpreter are dead after a lone gunman in Syria ambushed their patrol near Palmyra. No group has claimed responsibility, but President Trump is blaming ISIS. Willie James Inman reports.

Damascus

Two U.S. Army soldiers and an American civilian interpreter were killed in Syria during an ambush by a lone gunman while on patrol with Syrian forces in Palmyra. Three additional service members were wounded in the attack, which the Pentagon said was carried out by a suspected ISIS operative who infiltrated a local security force and was subsequently killed.

President Trump, en route to the Army-Navy football game, paid tribute to the victims and stated that the U.S. would retaliate if its forces are attacked again. The U.S. maintains hundreds of troops in Syria as part of a coalition to counter ISIS, which, despite being declared defeated in 2019, continues to carry out attacks through sleeper cells.

Americans ambushed and killed in Syria, Trump blames ISIS

Overseas now tonight, two U.S. Army soldiers and an American civilian serving as an interpreter are dead, killed in Syria after a lone gunman ambushed their patrol. No group has claimed responsibility, but President Trump blamed ISIS. It happened as the president was headed to attend the Army-Navy game in Baltimore, Maryland. CBS's Willie James Endman is at the White House with more on that. Willie. Jerrika, good evening to you. Before leaving for the Army-Navy game today, President Trump paid tribute to the three Americans killed in Syria. He also says the U.S. will respond. It was an ambush, terrible. We also have three wounded that seem to be doing pretty well, but we mourn those. These are great, three great people, and it's just a terrible thing. The Pentagon said a lone gunman killed two U.S. soldiers and a U.S. civilian who was working as an interpreter during a joint patrol between U.S. and Syrian forces. Three service members were also wounded. The attack took place in Palmyra. The gunman is believed to be an ISIS operative who infiltrated a local security force. He was killed after forces engaged. Last month, Syria joined the international coalition to fight against ISIS. ISIS in Syria was defeated in 2019, but sleeper cells of the group still carry out deadly attacks within the country. President Trump says the U.S. will strike back. The U.S. forces are attacked again. We are going to be safe. We will retaliate. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell says the soldiers were on a mission to support counter-ISIS and counter-terrorism operations. Today in Baltimore, President Trump attended the annual Army-Navy football game. Secretary Pete Hecsep honored the fallen Americans during the game. We honor them by having their back, and this game demonstrates to the country and reminds the country of how special what they do is. Tariqa, the U.S. military has hundreds of troops based in Syria as part of a coalition to fight and counter ISIS. Willie James-Emmon at the White House, thank you.

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