An apparently insider attack in the ancient Syrian city of Palmya has left a number of US casualties, after an apparent ISIS infiltrator to the local security forces attacked a joint US-Syrian patrol that was conducting a “field tour” of the area.
The gunmen opened fire on the patrol, and killed two US soldiers and one US civilian. Three additional US soldiers and two Syrian troops were also reported wounded in the incident. The gunmen, who has not been publicly identified, was reportedly killed in the exchange. The attacker has been widely reported as a member of local security forces, without detail, though the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights initially reported him as a member of the security forces. Subsequent Reuters reports also cited officials saying he was a security force member, but not a high-ranking one.
The joint delegation fled to the US base in al-Tanf, along the southern Syrian border, and took the wounded with them for treatment there. In the course of the movement, the main Syrian highway connecting the capital of Damascus to the eastern Deir Ezzor Governorate was blocked to all traffic and the area was placed under high alert.
A second attack by ISIS was reported further east, in the town of al-Takihi, where an ISIS cell attempted to assassinate a commander of the Kurdish SDF. One ISIS gunman was killed there, and the commander and one of his escorts were reported wounded.
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack was quoted as condemning the “cowardly terrorist attack” and reaffirmed the US partnership with the Islamist Syrian government to continue to fight terrorism in the country. President Trump vowed “very serious retaliation.”
ISIS has long sought to reassert itself after losing materially all of the territory they once held in both Syria and Iraq. The group retains capability to operate in eastern Syria, and as evidenced today, continue to try to conduct high-profile attacks when the opportunity presents itself.
Historically, US-backed Kurdish forces have been on the front lines against ISIS in that part of Syria, though US efforts to get the SDF to integrate outright into the Syrian military have complicated matters, and the sometimes tense relationship on the ground between the Syrian Army and the Kurds may be giving ISIS more leeway to operate in that region.
