A reported ISIS-linked attack in Syria underscored the country’s instability and raised concerns that extremists may be infiltrating the new regime’s own security forces, former Trump National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz, along with foreign policy analyst Walid Phares, warned Sunday on Newsmax.
The situation is "troubling in many ways," Fleitz said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend," pointing to Syria’s weak central authority and the way ISIS "thrives in ungoverned spaces."
He noted the U.S. counterterrorism footprint in Syria is "under 1,000 American troops," even as President Donald Trump has discussed pulling them out.
The reported ambush, Fleitz said, added urgency to issues Trump is now weighing about how to respond militarily and whether the U.S. should maintain, reduce, or potentially expand its posture.
"He's certainly going to retaliate," Fleitz said, adding that "there's going to be an evaluation right now about our presence there and whether it should continue or whether maybe we should up the ante."
Phares emphasized that the United States is not alone in confronting ISIS, describing a "very large coalition" that includes European countries, while also stressing that "the weight is on the shoulders of American troops."
But Phares said the details of this incident suggest a more complicated and potentially more dangerous picture than an attack carried out from outside government-held territory.
"This was not an outside ISIS attack on a convoy," Phares said, pushing back on what he described as a narrative suggesting the attack occurred in an ISIS-controlled area.
He said Tadmor/Palmyra remains under government control, even if lightly.
Phares said the shooter was described as part of an internal security structure and raised the possibility that ISIS is penetrating Syria’s security units, which would complicate U.S. engagement with the country's new leadership.
Fleitz, asked whether the attack jeopardizes U.S. diplomatic outreach to Syria’s new leadership, said he does not believe it does, but he said it could reinforce the case for pressing the Syrian government to stabilize and purge extremists.
The new Syrian government remains fragile and "not diverse," said Fleitz, adding that this contributes to its instability.
He also said there have been concerns "that foreign fighters had been asked to be part of the security forces," and that the government controls only "a sliver of Syria," with other areas influenced by various armed groups.
Fleitz said the U.S. should seek to work with Syria’s government to strengthen it and remove extremists and foreign fighters from security forces, warning that Washington does not want Syria to become "another failed state."
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