Dick Morris, a current adviser to President Donald Trump, questioned the continued deployment of U.S. troops in Syria on Newsmax on Saturday, arguing that American forces should not be placed in dangerous overseas roles that amount to protecting other operatives rather than defending the homeland.
Morris made the comments on "Saturday Report" following an ambush in central Syria that killed two U.S. service members and one American civilian and wounded three others, according to the U.S. military's Central Command.
The attack was carried out by a lone member of the Islamic State group and marked the first incident to inflict U.S. casualties since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a year ago.
Responding to a question about the attack and broader national security concerns, Morris emphasized the Trump administration's focus on homeland defense while raising doubts about the mission in Syria.
"Obviously, that's the major mission of the Trump administration. But my question is, what were they doing in Syria? I'm not well enough informed to give you a real answer on that, but I thought that ISIS was behind us. I thought that Trump had exterminated them, and yet they're capable of pulling this off," he said.
"And I think we have to understand that ultimately putting America first means keeping our troops in America and not putting them in dangerous situations like in Syria. And I think I'm really anxious to know what caused this and what operation this is supporting," he added.
"But I think we have to be very careful, and I think we have to avoid the temptation to have our troops spread all over the place, being bodyguards for other operatives."
The shooting occurred near the historic city of Palmyra, according to Syria's state-run SANA news agency.
SANA initially reported that two members of Syria's security forces and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The injured were evacuated by helicopter to the Al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.
Syrian authorities said the attacker was killed, without providing additional details.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force, a claim not independently confirmed by U.S. officials and denied by Syria's Interior Ministry spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth responded to the attack in a post on X, issuing a warning to those who target Americans abroad. "Let it be known, if you target Americans - anywhere in the world - you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you."
The United States maintains hundreds of troops in eastern Syria as part of a coalition mission aimed at countering remnants of the Islamic State group.
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