WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS: Three US Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in an attack by the militant Islamic State (IS) group on Saturday in Palmyra, Syria, where they were supporting counterterrorism operations, the Pentagon said.

Three others were wounded, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacker was killed by partner forces.

Several Syrian and American soldiers were wounded when shots were fired at a joint military delegation in Palmyra in central Syria on Saturday, state media said.

The incident is the first of its kind to be reported since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the United States.

“Several members of the American forces” were wounded in the shooting alongside “two members of the Syrian security forces”, state news agency SANA said, quoting a security source.

SANA reported that the soldiers were taking part in a “joint field tour” in Palmyra, which was once under the control of the IS, and that the shooter was killed.

A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said that the shots were fired “during a meeting between Syrian and American officers” at a Syrian base in Palmyra.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, the meeting came as part of an “American strategy to strengthen its presence and foothold in the Syrian desert”.

Helicopters evacuated the wounded to the Tanf base in southern Syria, where American troops are deployed, SANA said.

The US has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the IS.

Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improved its relations with Western countries following last year’s fall of President Bashar al-Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus.

The US 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 historic visit to Washington last month, where he held talks with President Trump.

The IS was defeated in Syria in 2019, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

US troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria — including Al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs — 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 US service members and two American civilians, as well as others from Syria, while conducting a patrol.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025