Several US military personnel were injured after a convoy was ambushed in Syria on Saturday (December 13), a senior US official confirmed to Fox News. The official said there were multiple injuries, some of them serious, but did not give further details about the condition of the soldiers.
Earlier, two local Syrian officials told Reuters that a joint convoy of US and Syrian forces engaged in operations against the Islamic State terrorist group had been targeted by a patrol in the central city of Palmyra. The circumstances of the ambush and the group responsible were not immediately clear.
The Pentagon’s response
The War Department told Fox News Digital that it was “aware of reports” related to the incident, but added that it had “nothing to add at this time.” US officials have not confirmed whether the attack claimed any lives.
US military presence in Syria
As of June, the U.S. had about 1,500 troops deployed in Syria following a series of drawdowns and consolidations ordered by the Pentagon, Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported. That number was expected to drop to several hundred by the end of the year.
Griffin said the U.S. previously operated eight military bases in Syria to monitor and counter ISIS activity after U.S. forces entered the country in 2014 to prevent the terrorist group from establishing a caliphate. Since then, three of these bases have been closed or handed over to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Intelligence and security concerns
“The United States, CIA and military forces are said to be deeply involved in securing and stabilizing the situation in Syria,” said Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, highlighting ongoing intelligence and security challenges in the region.
Syria represents a post-Assad milestone
The raid came at a time when Syria marked a major political milestone. Tens of thousands of Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime.
The celebrations followed the dramatic fall of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who fled the capital as rebel forces advanced in a rapid offensive to end more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.
