Updated at 5:30 p.m.
The Defense Department has identified Master Sgt. Jonathan Dunbar as the American soldier killed in Syria on Friday.
Dunbar, 36, died of injuries from an improvised explosive device in Manbij, Syria, a city northeast of Aleppo that’s controlled by a U.S.-supported military alliance led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
Dunbar was from Austin, Texas, and assigned to U.S. Army Special Operations Command headquarters in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, the military said.
The Defense Department did not release additional details and said the incident – which also killed a member of the British military – was under review.
The YPG took Manbij from the Islamic State group in August 2016 with heavy U.S. support. The jihadi group now controls only small pockets of Syria hundreds of miles to the east.
Kurdish presence in the area has enraged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has asked the U.S. to remove its troops from the area so Turkish-backed rebels can take Manbij from the YPG.
In the past, Turkey-backed Islamist groups have clashed with the YPG in the area, though U.S. presence has prevented more intense fighting.
There are about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria working with the YPG and its Christian and Arab allies, who hold about a quarter of Syria’s land. The precise number has been concealed over time.
President Trump said on Thursday that U.S. troops would leave Syria “very soon” and “let the other people take care of it.” On Friday, Trump spoke on the phone with Erdogan.
U.S. troops previously killed in Syria battling the Islamic State include Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin Bieren, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Scott C. Dayton, and Army Spc. Etienne J. Murphy. Dayton also was killed by an IED, while Bieren and Murphy reportedly died as a result of non-combat injuries, according to the Associated Press.
