US, Syrian soldiers wounded as shots fired at delegation: state media

Several Syrian and American soldiers were wounded when shots were fired at a joint military delegation in Palmyra in central Syria on Saturday, state media said.

The incident is the first of its kind to be reported since forces overthrew longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country's ties with the United States.

"Several members of the American forces" were wounded in the shooting alongside "two members of the Syrian security forces", state news agency SANA said, quoting a security source.

SANA reported that the soldiers were taking part in a "joint field tour" in Palmyra, which was once under the control of Daesh, and that the shooter was killed.

A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said that the shots were fired "during a meeting between Syrian and American officers" at a Syrian base in Palmyra.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, the meeting came as part of an "American strategy to strengthen its presence and foothold in the Syrian desert".

Helicopters evacuated the wounded to the Tanf base in southern Syria, where American troops are deployed, SANA said.

Last month, during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the US-led global coalition against the IS group.

US forces are deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Tanf near the border with Jordan.