Trump vows ‘very serious retaliation’ after ISIS kills US soldiers in Syria
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President Donald Trump sent a strong message to those accused of killing two US Army soldiers and an American translator in Syria on Saturday, saying the US would retaliate against ISIS if the forces are attacked again.
As Trump left the White House for the Army-Navy football game Saturday afternoon, he said the country was mourning the loss of soldiers and a civilian U.S. translator who was ambushed by a lone ISIS gunman.
Three other soldiers were also injured but are “in good shape” according to the president.
According to the Associated Press report based on Syrian state media, they were taken by helicopters to the Al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.
President Donald Trump leaves the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., for the Army-Navy college football game in Baltimore. (Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images)
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Trump later posted to Truth Social, adding that “there will be very serious retaliation.”
“This was an attack by ISIS on the United States and Syria, which is in a very dangerous part of Syria that is not completely controlled,” he wrote in his post. “Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be a very serious retaliation. Thank you for your interest in this matter!”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the attack occurred during a meeting with a key leader as part of the troops’ mission to support ongoing ISIS/counterterrorism operations in the region.
A woman waves a Syrian flag as people walk in the courtyard of the Umayyad mosque in the Old City in central Damascus, January 16, in Damascus, Syria. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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The gunman was killed by joint forces, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Soldiers’ names and unit identification information are stored until 24 hours after notification to their next of kin.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for further comment.
As of June, about 1,500 U.S. troops remained in Syria, having withdrawn at the Pentagon’s direction, and that number is expected to drop to a few hundred personnel by the end of the year, according to Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin.
Security forces affiliated with the interim Syrian government travel behind a vehicle driving along the road in the western Syrian city of Latakia on March 9, 2025. (Omar Haj Kadour /AFP via Getty Images)
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The United States initially operated eight bases in Syria to monitor ISIS after intervening in 2014 to prevent the group from establishing a caliphate. Three of these bases were later closed or handed over to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Fox News’ Greg Norman, Ashley Oliver, Jennifer Griffin, Benjamin Weinthal and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
