Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued Press Release No. 251 regarding a terrorist attack near Palmyra, Syria, on December 13, 2025, according to an X post by its official account @TC_Disisleri between 11:16 p.m. UTC on December 13 and 12:45 a.m. UTC on December 14. The press release addresses the ambush in Palmyra that killed two U.S. service members, one U.S. civilian interpreter, and wounded three others, as confirmed by U.S. Central Command. A U.S. official told Al-Monitor the gunman had worked for Syrian government-aligned forces and was under investigation by Damascus' Interior Ministry for alleged ISIS ties. U.S.-led coalition forces with Syrian Special Forces conducted arrest raids targeting former ISIS members in Palmyra between 8:46 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. UTC on December 13, according to Al Badia 24 reports on X. These operations followed U.S. patrols and airstrikes in the area earlier that evening, as reported by NAYA and Worldsource24. In a separate development over the past 90 minutes, members of Syria’s transitional government reinstalled checkpoints and intensified patrols around Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods following the removal of joint checkpoints, according to ANHA as shared in an X post by @vvanwilgenburg.
