Just weeks after Syria joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, a deadly attack on American forces in the ancient city of Palmyra has exposed gaps in Damascus’ vetting of its personnel as it works to rebuild its security apparatus and court the United States.
The attack, which local reports said was by a member of Syria’s security forces, killed two American soldiers and a civilian translator meeting with Syrian personnel and underscored the persistence of jihadist ideology among former rebels now serving in the army.
“You are the enemies of god,” the assailant said before shooting, according to local accounts.
Why We Wrote This
Syria’s need to rapidly reconstitute its security forces has left them vulnerable to infiltration by former rebels with jihadist sympathies at the very time that President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been cultivating ties with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Analysts said the attack reflected vulnerabilities created by the rapid expansion of Syrian security forces and assessed it as an unsuccessful Islamic State (ISIS) attempt to derail warming ties between Washington and Damascus.
A Syrian official said checks would be carried out to establish whether the attacker had a direct organizational link to ISIS or whether he just held their ideas. A subsequent statement from the Interior Ministry merely said an ISIS member infiltrated a meeting of Syrian-U.S. forces.
“It was a member of security forces that shot” the Americans, says a Palmyra-based Syrian who formerly served in the anti-ISIS coalition and asked to withhold his name. “There would be no one else who could get in. I know them. Many of these guys have an ISIS mindset – against the Jews, against Americans. That kind of rhetoric.”
Delicate timing
It was the first attack on U.S. personnel in Syria to cause casualties since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024. It was also the first deadly incident involving U.S. forces there since a 2019 suicide bombing in Manbij in northern Syria.
The assault occurred as U.S. soldiers were in Palmyra to support ongoing counter-ISIS operations, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. “Partner forces” killed the attacker, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
President Donald Trump framed the incident as an attack against both the U.S. and Syria, noting it took place in “a very dangerous part of Syria that is not fully controlled by [the government],” and warned that a “very serious retaliation” would follow.
The attack came at a delicate time in U.S.-Syrian relations. President Trump, who has spoken of a prosperous future for Syria, has praised and recently hosted Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel leader who toppled the Assad regime and has sought to distance himself from his jihadist past.
Disrupting the growing cooperation between Washington and Damascus is a critical objective for ISIS, which was militarily defeated in Syria in 2019 but continues to carry out low-level insurgent and terrorist operations.
“It should come as no surprise that ISIS has attempted to infiltrate the government forces and then use the infiltrators to attack and kill U.S. service members in order to drive a wedge between Washington and Damascus,” says Brian Carter, research manager and analyst at the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute.
“This attack will have a very limited impact on the U.S.-Syria relationship. The Trump administration is already exclusively blaming ISIS and emphasizing the importance of the partnership with the Syrian government,” he says.
ISIS refuge in a desolate region
A poorly paved highway connects Damascus to Palmyra, famous for its monumental ruins dating back to the second millennium B.C. The desolate steppe landscape between the capital and Palmyra is cut off from phone networks and riddled with mines.
The Badia region, which stretches through central and eastern Syria, holds significant strategic importance encompassing key population centers, borders, and critical military supply routes. Its remoteness and rugged terrain turned it into refuge for Islamic State cells.
According to Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al Baba, senior figures from the international anti-ISIS coalition and Syria’s Internal Security command were conducting a joint field tour Saturday in the Badia region. The visit concluded at a fortified Internal Security base. “At the gate of this base, an attack took place, committed by someone affiliated with the ISIS organization,” the spokesman said.
Palmyra itself was under ISIS control twice during the Syrian civil war. The American base at Al-Tanf, established in 2016 in the context of global anti-ISIS operations, sits roughly 100 miles south of Palmyra.
Following Mr. Assad’s ouster in December 2024, the U.S. retained a military presence in Syria as part of its ongoing campaign against ISIS. There are about 1,000 troops, according to the Pentagon, although President Trump had signaled the intention to withdraw them earlier this year.
The attack comes weeks after Syria became the 90th member of the U.S.-led Global Coalition against ISIS.
Varying ideological backgrounds
Compounding concerns about ideological screening, former rebels of widely differing backgrounds now oversee a security apparatus once used by the Assad regime to crush dissent, forcibly disappear opponents, and kill hundreds of thousands of people.
“The Syrian security and military forces come from a variety of ideological backgrounds,” ranging from jihadist groups to both religious and secular nationalist factions, says Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria-based analyst who specializes in jihadist movements.
Of particular concern, Mr. Tamimi notes, is the nature of ideological instruction reportedly being delivered to recruits.
“Right now there is a broader concern about the Sunni-centric, religious instruction being given to recruits within the military in particular,” says Mr. Tamimi, noting that it seems that the military and security forces have also recruited former members of the Islamic State.
Today’s dominant security actors are linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which emerged from Syria’s jihadist movements. An Al Qaeda offshoot, the group rebranded itself away from global jihad toward a narrowly Syrian, nationalist project under the command of Mr. Sharaa.
HTS battled the Islamic State while seeking to eliminate rival factions and assert territorial control. Mr. Sharaa’s break from global jihad years ago and recent visit to the White House has been met with discontent from more radical peers, both Syrian and foreign.
Meanwhile, expedited recruitment efforts have made it possible for individuals with a jihadist ideology to join state institutions.
“Some of those former members may have clearly abandoned the Islamic State’s ideology, whereas others may still adhere to it,” notes Mr. Tamimi, who is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. “In the case of this incident however, it is the first of its kind in which someone supportive of the group and recruited into the security forces carried out an attack from within.”
Shift in ISIS activity
The attack also aligns with what appears to be a deliberate shift in ISIS activity inside Syria since Assad’s ouster.
ISIS attacks have typically focused on the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in which Syrian Kurds play a leadership role. Recently, however, it has claimed operations in locations controlled by the Syrian government, including major cities like Homs, Hama, Damascus, and Aleppo.
“It is likely that the group was keeping a low profile within Syrian government-held areas for security reasons as its cells moved and positioned themselves, even as its propaganda repeatedly railed against the government. But now, in order to demonstrate credibility, the group is claiming more attacks,” says Mr. Tamimi.
Mr. Baba, the Interior Ministry spokesman, rejected reports that the attacker held a leadership role in Syria’s Internal Security forces. He noted that more than 5,000 personnel operate under the Internal Security command in the Badia region, with weekly vetting procedures in place. In an assessment conducted earlier this month, authorities flagged concerns about the attacker’s ideological orientation. Mr. Baba said disciplinary action had been planned.
The Interior Ministry later issued a statement saying that an “ISIS member infiltrated the meeting.” It reiterated Syria’s commitment to fighting ISIS “in cooperation and coordination” with the U.S.-led coalition.
Palmyra residents said arrests have taken place and that U.S. coalition war planes have been flying over the city since the attack.
Despite the gravity of the attack, Mr. Tamimi does not expect a fundamental rupture in U.S.–Syria relations.
“Trump has made clear he supports and stands by Sharaa, who did a very good job of courting him,” he says. “But there will be more pressure on the Syrian government from the U.S. to vet recruits into the security and military forces and root out suspected ISIS infiltrators and supporters.”
