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Trump vows 'very serious retaliation' against ISIS after deadly Syrian ambush kills US soldiers
By Alexandra Koch
Published December 13, 2025
President Donald Trump sent a strong message to those accused of killing two U.S. Army soldiers and an American interpreter in Syria Saturday, noting the U.S. will retaliate against ISIS if forces are attacked again.
As Trump departed the White House for the Army-Navy football game Saturday afternoon, he said the country is mourning the loss of the soldiers and a civilian U.S. interpreter, who were ambushed by a lone ISIS gunman.
Three other soldiers were wounded but are "doing well," according to the president.
They were taken by helicopters to the al-Tanf garrison, which is near the border with Iraq and Jordan, The Associated Press reported, citing Syrian state media.
President Donald Trump departs from 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, "there will be very serious retaliation."
"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 wrote in the post. "The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the attack occurred as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement, part of their mission in support of ongoing counter-ISIS/counter-terrorism operations in the region.
A woman waves a Syrian flag as people walk through the courtyard of the Umayyad mosque in the Old City in central Damascus, Jan. 16, in Damascus, Syria. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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The gunman was killed by partner forces, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The soldiers’ names, as well as identifying information about their units, are being withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin notification.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for further comment.
As of June, roughly 1,500 U.S. troops remained in Syria after Pentagon-directed withdrawals, with the force expected to decline to a few hundred personnel by year’s end, according to Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin.
Security forces loyal to the interim Syrian government ride in the back of a vehicle moving along a road in Syria's western city of Latakia March 9, 2025. (Omar Haj Kadour /AFP via Getty Images)
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The U.S. initially operated eight bases in Syria to monitor ISIS after intervening in 2014 to prevent the group from establishing a caliphate. Three of those bases have since been closed or transferred to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Fox News' Greg Norman, Ashley Oliver, Jennifer Griffin, Benjamin Weinthal and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-vows-very-serious-retaliation-against-isis-after-deadly-syria-ambush-kills-us-soldiers