Syria arrests five people suspected of being linked to deadly ambush of US, Syrian military convoy
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Syria arrested five people on Saturday suspected of having links to the shooting by American and Syrian troops in the city of Palmyra, in central Syria, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.
Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed by an attacker targeting a convoy of U.S. and Syrian forces before being shot down. The Syrian Interior Ministry described the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathizing with ISIS.
Syria has cooperated with a U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, reaching an agreement last month during President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said its units in Palmyra carried out an operation in coordination with “international coalition forces” that resulted in the arrest of five suspects “who were immediately returned for questioning.”
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the attack by telephone with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Shibani “expressed his condolences and reiterated the Syrian government’s commitment to degrading and destroying the common threat of ISIS,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said it assessed the attacker just days before the attack and concluded he may have extremist views. A decision regarding his future was pending.
The U.S.-led coalition has carried out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria targeting IS suspects in recent months, often with the participation of Syrian security forces. Syria also led a nationwide campaign last month arresting more than 70 people accused of links to the group.
The United States has stationed troops in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to fight ISIS, which held swaths of Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2019.
The Syrian government is now led by former rebels who toppled leader Bashar al-Assad last year after 13 years of civil war, including members of the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda who broke away from the group and clashed with IS.
