On 13 December 2025, a lone Syrian security officer affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIL) ambushed a joint US-Syrian patrol near Palmyra, killing two US soldiers—Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard—along with Turkish-American interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat. This marked the first US military casualties in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime, occurring just a month after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had signed a cooperation agreement with the US-led anti-ISIL coalition. The gunman was fatally shot by Syrian forces, and two Syrian troops were wounded. In the aftermath, Syria arrested five suspects, while the US retaliated with a January 16 airstrike that killed an Al-Qaeda leader linked to the attacker. The attack drew widespread international condemnation, with US President Donald Trump vowing retaliation and countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey expressing solidarity with Syria and the United States.