Attacker who killed US troops in Syria was a recent recruit to security forces and was suspected of Islamic State ties prior to shooting | Fortune

"A man who carried out an attack in Syria that killed three U.S. citizens had joined Syria's internal security forces as a base security guard two months earlier and was recently reassigned amid suspicions that he might be affiliated with the Islamic State group, a Syrian official told The Associated Press Sunday. The attack Saturday in the Syrian desert near the historic city of Palmyra killed two U.S. service members and one American civilian and wounded three others."

"Al-Baba said that Syria's new authorities had faced shortages in security personnel and had to recruit rapidly after the unexpected success of a rebel offensive last year that intended to capture the northern city of Aleppo but ended up overthrowing the government of former President Bashar Assad. "We were shocked that in 11 days we took all of Syria and that put a huge responsibility in front of us from the security and administration sides," he said."

An attacker who had joined Syria's internal security forces two months earlier carried out a shooting in the desert near Palmyra that killed two U.S. service members, one American civilian, and wounded several others including Syrian security personnel. The attacker had been part of a 5,000-member division formed in the Badiya desert where Islamic State remnants operate. Security leadership grew suspicious of an infiltrator and evaluated personnel in the area. Officials flagged the man, monitored his contacts, and reassigned him to guard equipment at a base as a precautionary measure while attempting to determine any active IS links and network connections.

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