Trump vows to retaliate IS attack

Two American troops and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria on Saturday after an alleged member of the Islamic State group opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol, officials said.

US CENTCOM announced the deaths on X after Syria's state media earlier reported an attack in the city of Palmyra had wounded American and Syrian troops.

"An ambush by a lone ISIS gunman" resulted in the three Americans' deaths as well as injuries to three additional troops, said CENTCOM, which oversees the US military in the Middle East.

"The gunman was engaged and killed," it said.

President Donald Trump said the United States would retaliate. "We will retaliate," Trump told reporters outside the White House, adding just afterwards on his Truth Social platform that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was "extremely angry and disturbed by this attack."

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the attack occurred as the soldiers "were conducting a key leader engagement" in support of counter-terrorism operations.