An attack on US forces in Syria is a deadly reminder of the dangers that extremist groups continue to play in Syria and the Middle East. As details continue to emerge regarding the perpetrator and how the attack transpired, it is important to draw several initial lessons from what happened.
The attack illustrates the need to make sure that security forces in Syria, especially those being recruited and trained by the new government in Damascus, are vetted for extremists, and that the force is professionalized.
The new Syrian government faces immense challenges securing the country, and the US and partner countries all want Damascus to be stable and the security forces to continue to grow. For that to happen, there must be safeguards, professional training, and proper vetting.
Another important issue is the integration of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria with the new Damascus-led security forces in western Syria. The attack on US forces illustrates the threats to integrating forces.
The SDF has been an exemplary partner to the US in eastern Syria. The hurdle in western Syria is that some extremist outliers may oppose the SDF and seek to exploit this incident. Making sure extremists do not infiltrate Syria’s forces or derail Syria’s development is important.
Details of the attack
To understand the challenges, it’s worth reviewing a few details of the attack.
“Two US service members and one US civilian [interpreter] were killed, and three service members were injured, as a result of an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman in Syria,” US Central Command reported.
US President Donald Trump has pledged retaliation.
“We will retaliate [for] the loss of the three great American patriots” he said.
US Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, wrote: “Today’s cowardly terrorist ambush on US personnel in Syria, which claimed the lives of two brave American soldiers and a dedicated civilian interpreter, is a stark and outrageous reminder that terrorism remains a vicious and persistent threat, capable of striking even as we work to eradicate it.”
The US soldiers were killed in an ambush in Syria’s western Homs province, Rudaw Media Network, a news channel in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, reported.
“The American civilian killed in the ambush was a Christian from the Kurdistan Region, a US military source in Syria told Rudaw on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter,” the report said.
The US team that was attacked was based in the Tanf base in southern Syria near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders, Rudaw Media Network reported. This base has served as a garrison to train Syrians for a decade.
The Syrian Free Army unit was the main partner force of the Americans there. It was made up of local Syrian Arabs. It later became part of the new Syrian security forces’ 70th Division and was doing security work.
“A Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson said Syrian forces had issued intelligence warnings to US-led forces and that the assailant was known to authorities ahead of the deadly attack,” CNN reported.
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Syria’s official news agency, reported: “A joint Syrian and US military patrol came under fire on Tuesday near the ancient city of Palmyra, wounding several personnel, a security source said.”
Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour Eddin al-Baba has said that Syria is investigating if the perpetrator “had direct ties to ISIS or merely adopted extremist ideology,” the report said.
The details are concerning. The US-led Coalition against ISIS has been seeking to partner more with the new Syrian security forces in recent months. This is a result of Syria joining the coalition against ISIS in the wake of the meeting between Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in November.
It is in the interest of the US and Syria to continue to work together. The US also wants the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to integrate with the Damascus-backed security forces.
For that to happen, ISIS and other extremists need to be guarded against. ISIS or others can take advantage of the power vacuum to try to infiltrate and derail various developments in Syria.
Another problem is the existence of extremist groups among Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria. Some of these groups were sanctioned by the US for abuses.
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has sounded the alarm over the growing influence of former militia commanders who have re-emerged as powerful military and political figures within Syria’s reshaped power structure,” Kurdistan24, a new channel based in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, reported in October. “Among them is the controversial figure Mohammed Hussein al-Jassem, widely known as ‘Abu Amsha,’ whose rise from a militia leader in Afrin to commander of the 25th Division in Hama has reignited fears of renewed militia dominance and the erosion of civilian governance.”
Damascus has leaned on some of these types of commanders and forces because of its close partnership with Turkey and also because it needs manpower.
As Damascus builds capacity in its forces, however, it needs to grow beyond relying on former militias. This means that commanders who previously were involved in abuses either need to reform themselves and be de-radicalized, or they need to be vetted better.
The attack on US forces should not derail US-Syria security cooperation or integration of the SDF. It should make it deadly clear, however, that cooperation must be based on professional operations and not letting extremists infiltrate.