- The Syrian government calls the attack on an American convoy a “terrorist attack.”
- Syria arrests 11 security members after killing of US personnel.
- Washington says the deadly attack was carried out by Daesh militants.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that the gunman who killed three Americans in the central region of Palmyra the day before was a member of the security forces who should have been fired for extremism.
Two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed on Saturday in what the Syrian government described as a “terrorist attack”, while Washington said it had been carried out by a Daesh militant who was later killed.
Syrian authorities “had decided to dismiss him” from the security forces before the attack for holding extremist ideas and planned to do so on Sunday, Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba told state television.
A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that “11 members of the general security forces were arrested and taken for questioning after the attack.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the gunman had belonged to the security forces “for more than 10 months and was assigned to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra.”
Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was controlled by Daesh at the height of its territorial expansion into Syria.
The incident is the first of its kind reported since the overthrow of former Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year.
US President Donald Trump promised “very serious retaliation” following Saturday’s attack.
A Syrian Defense Ministry official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that before the attack, US forces had “arrived by land from the Al-Tanf military base” in southeastern Syria, near the border with Jordan.
“The joint Syrian-American delegation first toured the city of Palmyra, then headed to the T-4 air base before returning to a base in Palmyra,” the source added.
A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said Saturday that the shots were fired “during a meeting between Syrian and American officials” at a Syrian base in Palmyra.
However, a Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP that the attack “took place in an area where the Syrian president has no control.”
Warnings
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers “were conducting an engagement with key leaders” in support of counterterrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
Trump called the incident an attack by Daesh “against the United States and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, which is not fully controlled by them.”
He said the three other U.S. soldiers injured in the incident were “fine.”
The official SANA news agency said the attack also wounded two members of the Syrian security forces.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Damascus “strongly condemns the terrorist attack.”
In an interview on state television on Saturday, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Anwar al-Baba said there were “previous warnings from the internal security command to allied forces in the desert region.”
International coalition forces failed to heed Syrian warnings about possible Daesh infiltration, he said.
Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014 during the Syrian civil war, before being territorially defeated in the country five years later.
However, its fighters still maintain a presence, particularly in the vast Syrian desert.
Last month, during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s historic visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the US-led global coalition against Daesh.
US forces are deployed in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria, as well as in Al-Tanf, near the border with Jordan.
