Peloni: It seems that it has been judged by the US that the assailant who killed three Americans and wounding another three was actually acting against the Syrian govt. Interestingly, the Syrian govt apparently knew the terrorist harbored Islamist ideologies, yet it was somehow inexplicably deemed that neutralizing such an impending threat could simply wait until after the weekend. The assumption by the US that this is merely a case of gross incompetence on the part of America’s newly minted ally in Syria, however, fails to explain or even consider the importance of Jolani’s recent comments describing America as the true terrorist in the region. Coming from a presumably ‘reformed’ terrorist, these words by themselves should be understood to be, not just alarming, but also revealing as to Jolani’s current frame of mind, if nothing else. The fact that these words came just hours before a member of Jolani’s armed forces gunned down a half dozen Americans would seem highly relevant, yet not so relevant as to have Trump change his continued reverence for Jolani, which has previously withstood the test of Jolani’s armed forces having carried out repeated acts of slaughter against Syrian minorities over the past six months.
By Ahmad Sharawi | December 13, 2025
Image by Designism – Own work based on: Official CENTCOM Seal.png, CC0, Wikipedia
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that “two 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 [Islamic State] gunman in Syria” on December 13 in the area of Palmyra in Syria’s Homs Governorate. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces. A Syrian official confirmed this status and stated that the attacker had been “under investigation” for “extremist ideas” while denying that he held a leadership position in the security forces.
It is the first attack on US personnel in Syria that resulted in casualties since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in December 2024, and the first deadly attack since 2019. US President Donald Trump mourned the fallen Americans and claimed that it was an attack against the United States and Syria in a “very dangerous part of Syria that is not fully controlled by [the Syrian government].” Trump also threatened that there would be a “very serious retaliation”.
“The attack occurred as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement. Their mission was in support of on-going counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” said Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman. “Partner forces” killed the attacker, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wrote in a social media post.
CNN reported that the attack happened at a “‘fortified command facility’ belonging to the Syrian Internal Security Forces leadership, where the assailant opened fire at the gate.” The Syrian Ministry of Interior confirmed the neutralization of the perpetrator of the Palmyra attack by Syrian security forces. However, the ministry’s spokesperson, Noureddine al Baba, denied reports that the perpetrator had “leadership ties” in Syria’s Internal Security Forces and specified that he “was not an assistant to the commanders” or part of the joint American-Syrian tour of the security facility. Baba added that “investigations are ongoing to determine whether he has links to ISIS or adheres to the group’s ideology.”
The Syrian Ministry of Interior spokesman also stressed that the Syrian state had “previously issued warnings to partner forces in the international coalition regarding preliminary information indicating the possibility of breaches or attacks by ISIS,” but international coalition forces did not take those warnings into consideration.
Baba further explained that “there are more than five thousand personnel affiliated with the Internal Security Command in the Badia, and members are evaluated on a weekly basis, with measures taken accordingly.” He noted that an assessment issued on December 10 regarding the perpetrator of the attack indicated that “he may hold extremist ideas.” Baba added that “a decision was scheduled to be issued against [the attacker] tomorrow, as it is the first working day of the week, but the attack occurred today, Saturday, which is considered an administrative holiday.”
A Syrian security source claimed that “U.S. helicopters transported those wounded in the attack to the al-Tanf base” near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders, where American troops are stationed alongside forces affiliated with the Syrian Army’s 70th Division, formerly known as the Free Syria Army, a US counterterrorism partner. The area of the attack near Palmyra is primarily under the control of the 70th Division. Despite the Free Syria Army’s formal integration into the Syrian Ministry of Defense, the group continues to maintain control over large parts of the central Syrian Badia, including the villages of Dumayr, Al Qaryatayn, and Al Sukhnah, all of which were Islamic State strongholds in 2015–2016.
“The increase in these attacks requires greater resolve and the exertion of joint efforts at the national level in counterterrorism operations,” Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in response to the attack. Abdi also mourned the fallen Americans and wished a speedy recovery to those wounded in the attack.
The last attack that killed American personnel in Syria occurred in 2019, in the city of Manbij in Aleppo Governorate, when the Islamic State claimed a suicide bombing that killed two US soldiers, a civilian Pentagon employee, and a contractor supporting the US military.
Following Saturday’s attack, local social media accounts reported sightings of US and coalition drones operating at low altitudes over the Palmyra area. It remains unclear whether this activity was part of a retaliatory response or routine reconnaissance targeting Islamic State cells.
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