US President Donald Trump said on Saturday, following the killing of three Americans in Syria in an attack apparently carried out by militants from the Islamic State (IS) organization, that “this is an attack against the United States and Syria” and will be followed by “very serious retaliation”. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the AFP and AP agencies.
- Three Americans were killed in an attack in the Syrian city of Palmyra.
- Donald Trump described the attack as an act of the Islamic State organization.
- The United States and Syria are planning a very serious retaliation for the attack.
- The attacker on the convoy was shot dead and the victims transported by helicopters.
- The Islamic State is defeated militarily, but still carries out attacks.
„We mourn the loss of three great American patriots in Syria, two soldiers and one civilian interpreter. We are also praying for the three wounded soldiers who, as has just been confirmed, are fine. This was an ISIS attack against the US and Syria in a very dangerous part of Syria that they do not fully control. Syrian President Ahmad Shara is extremely angry and concerned about this attack. A very serious retaliation will follow,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social social network.
A convoy of Syrian and American military forces operating as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State organization was on patrol in the Syrian city of Palmyra on Saturday. he became the target of fire from an unknown assailant. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) later announced that two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter had died in the attack.
The Syrian news agency SANA reports that the soldiers were on a “joint patrol” in Palmyra and shot the attacker after the incident. American helicopters transported the wounded to the at-Tanf military base near the border with Iraq.
In November, Syria became the 90th member country of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State. At one time, IS controlled about 40 percent of Iraq and about a third of Syria. The military coalition started fighting IS in 2014.
The organization is currently considered militarily defeated, but not completely extinct. According to the USA, there are currently approximately 2,500 of its fighters in both countries – Iraq and Syria – who continue to carry out attacks.
