DAMASCUS: President Donald Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” after two US service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Daesh group.
“This was an Daesh attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” he said in a social media post.
The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, was “devastated by what happened” and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops. Trump, in his post, said Al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said the soldiers were members of the Iowa National Guard — where she, too, once served. “Our Iowa National Guard family is hurting as we mourn the loss of two of our own and pray for the recovery of the three soldiers wounded,” she said.
US Central Command said three service members were also wounded in the ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria. Trump said the three “seem to be doing pretty well.” The US military said the gunman was killed in the attack. Syrian officials said the attack wounded members of Syria’s security forces as well.
