Syrian Ministry of Interior spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba stated between 6:46 PM and 7:16 PM UTC on December 13, 2025, that the gunman who ambushed U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria, killing two U.S. service members and one U.S. civilian while wounding three service members, was Tariq Al-Satouf, a Syrian security forces member with an extremist ideology. Al-Satouf received a negative evaluation on December 10 and was slated for dismissal the following day, per the statement shared on Telegram. Special sources identified Al-Satouf, from Al-Khesheir village in southern Aleppo countryside, as acting on behalf of ISIS near Palmyra, according to an X post in the reporting window. Local sources confirmed he was internal security personnel, noting prior warnings to Damascus about ISIS members in Badia security units that went unheeded due to a containment policy, as reported on X. U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement cited on X during the window that a lone ISIS gunman carried out the December 13 ambush in Syria, killing two service members and one civilian and injuring three, with the attacker neutralized by partner forces. Identities remain withheld pending next-of-kin notification. ISIS supporters celebrated the attack on Facebook in the past 29 minutes, targeting CENTCOM's Arabic-language page with comments gloating and warning of further strikes, according to monitoring reports. Prominent supporters have recently urged sympathizers to target coalition foreigners and provide tip-offs on their movements.
