By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
Multiple lawmakers on are calling on the Trump administration to keep working with the Syrian government to combat the ISIS terrorist group after an attack that left two soldiers and one civilian dead in Syria.
“ISIS is still the most capable and dangerous Islamic terrorist group who have already demonstrated that their intent is to strike even within the United States,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who is the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Fox News in a Sunday interview.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Sunday that President Donald Trump targeted ISIS in his first term, referring to U.S. military efforts that started in the late 2010s, adding that he is “going to do that again” in his second.
Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said that U.S. anti-ISIS efforts in Syria are important and that he believes the administration will continue to keep pressure on the terrorist organization, noting that around 2,000 American soldiers are still in the country.
“This is an important mission. We’re training to ensure … that, you know, the stabilization of the area, both Iraq and Syria, that it’s completed,” Turner said, saying that the mission “will certainly continue.”
On Saturday, Trump vowed retaliation after the three Americans were killed.
“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” he said in a social media post, adding that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”
While speaking with reporters, Trump said that al-Sharaa was “devastated by what happened” during the attack, stressing that his country is fighting with American troops against ISIS. He described the attack as an ambush that left three others wounded.
“We will retaliate,” Trump told reporters before he departed to attend a college football game, without providing more details.
Confirming the incident, U.S. Central Command said three service members were also wounded in the ambush Saturday by a lone member of ISIS in central Syria. Trump said the three wounded service members “seem to be doing pretty well.”
The military said the gunman was killed in the attack. Syrian officials said the attack wounded members of Syria’s security forces as well.
The attack on U.S. troops in Syria was the first fatal attack since the fall of former President Bashar Assad a year ago. Meanwhile, the United States has had hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition that is still battling ISIS.
The attack took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syria’s security force and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.
Under Assad’s regime, the U.S. government had no diplomatic relations with Syria. However, since the regime collapse, the Trump administration has experienced warmer ties with the country as al-Sharaa made a visit to Washington last month and held talks with Trump.
His visit marked the first time a Syrian leader visited the White House since the country gained its independence from France in 1946. Before Assad took over in 2000, his father, Hafez al-Assad, had served as the head of state in Syria since 1971.
As for ISIS, the terrorist group took over swathes of Syria and Iraq in the mid-2010s amid gruesome propaganda videos showing beheadings that were posted online before a U.S.-led coalition was deployed to take out its territorial stronghold in 2019.
The names of the soldiers who were killed in Saturday’s attack are being withheld until 24 hours after their families or next of kin have been notified, said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell on X. He added that the attack took place during support of a counter-ISIS operation and that it is being investigated by the Defense Department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
