By Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — When an attacker killed two US service members and a civilian interpreter in Syria over the weekend, President Donald Trump vowed “very serious” retribution against those responsible, and officials were quick to describe the assailant as a “lone gunman” who was a member of ISIS.

However, a spokesman for Syria’s Ministry of Interior Affairs acknowledged Saturday that the attacker had been part of the country’s Internal Security service. Trump, as well as Syrian leaders, were quick to distance the gunman from the country’s fledgling government that has received strong American support in recent months.

Days later, ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the attack and multiple sources familiar with the investigation, including US and Syrian officials, tell CNN that the shooter’s ties to the terror group are less clear-cut than both governments have publicly claimed.

But the attack demonstrates how the new regime in Syria continues to grapple with extremist elements within the country, including among members of its own army, the sources said. It’s also an echo of the so-called green-on-blue attacks that US forces suffered in Afghanistan – where troops worked alongside local forces but took casualties as that nation attempted to forge a new military.

Initial indications suggested the shooter had affiliations with the Syrian security forces at some point, according to a US official. Whether those affiliations were in the past or present remains unclear, but efforts are underway to better understand the individual’s background and the circumstances of the attack itself.

Hundreds of American troops remain in Syria as part of an ongoing mission to root out ISIS. The slain soldiers, Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa, were deployed as part of a rotation of the Iowa National Guard.

Trump will be meeting with the families of the two killed soldiers on Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base as they receive the remains of the service members, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

The mission that those soldiers were performing has brought the Trump administration together with the new Syrian regime, which took control of the country after toppling Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

US officials have heavily invested in supporting Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa who previously led a US-designated terrorist group and until recently had a $10 million US bounty on his head but who has attempted to transition what had been a hodgepodge resistance force into a governing authority in the country.

“The [Syrian] army is comprised of fighters from the Revolution and includes folks of all background, some with extremist ties,” one former US official who recently traveled to Damascus and met with senior Syrian officials said. “They are trying to transition but as the attack the other day highlighted there are still extremist elements within the country.”

US and Syrian officials have privately echoed that sentiment, noting that Syria’s forces are currently made up of an array of fighters from different backgrounds and with varying extremist views and affiliations.

The Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesman, Nour Eddin al-Baba, told Syrian state television that the attacker had been flagged for a security review and that Syrian officials had alerted the US-led international coalition against ISIS in Syria about preliminary information “indicating a possible breach or expected ISIS attacks.”

“However, (coalition) forces did not take the Syrian warnings into account,” al-Baba added.

Yet the source with knowledge of the current US-Syrian cooperation efforts questioned how mu

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Katrina Samaan

Washington, D.C (CNN) — The guilty verdict handed down this week to Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was expected but is still devastating, his daughter Claire Lai told CNN’s Jim Sciutto, blaming what she described as the city’s “highly compromised” legal system under Chinese rule.

Her father, 78, now faces the possibility of life in prison after his two-year trial under a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on the city following months of huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests.

Self-made billionaire Lai, founded a fiercely pro-democracy tabloid newspaper known for its blistering broadsides against the Chinese Communist Party until its forced closure in 2021.

Prosecutors cited Lai’s lobbying of US politicians during Trump’s first term – much of it before the security law was enacted – as evidence of sedition and colluding with foreign forces, including his meetings with then-Vice President Mike Pence, then-State Secretary Mike Pompeo, and attempts to meet Trump himself.

Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly rejected claims Lai’s trial was politically motivated and maintain the city’s judicial system adheres to the rule of law.

Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that Monday’s verdict was expected but devastating, calling the national security law extremely vague, draconian and arbitrary.

“This was not going to be solved in the once promising but now highly compromised Hong Kong legal system,” she said, adding the 855-page verdict failed to meaningfully engage with free press or fundamental rights protections.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has a separate judicial system to that of mainland China – which has a conviction rate above 99%.

Critics fear the national security law has brought what they describe as Beijing’s authoritarian and opaque judicial norms to Hong Kong, with all national security trials so far heard by a panel of specially selected judges, not juries – a departure from the city’s common-law tradition when dealing with serious cases.

Human rights barrister Jonathan Price KC, part of Lai’s international legal team, described the court proceedings as a “performative process” that began with Lai’s arrest in 2020 and culminated in what he called a predetermined verdict.

“The legal reasoning is scarce to say the least, if not non-existent,” Price said.

In response, Hong Kong authorities said the court “clearly pointed out in the reasons for verdict that Lai Chee-ying (Jimmy Lai) was not on trial for his political views or beliefs,” adding that the 855-page ruling is “fully open for public inspection” and “meticulously explains the court’s analysis of the relevant legal principles and evidence.”

The Hong Kong government also defended the city’s legal system, saying, “Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law and has always adhered to the principle that laws must be obeyed, and lawbreakers be held accountable.”

The family says Lai’s health has sharply deteriorated during the five years he has been imprisoned. Claire Lai said her father has lost more than 10 kilograms in less than a year and now suffers from diabetes, heart issues, high blood pressure, failing eyesight and hearing, and other visible ailments.

“My father, he was strong and robust… and he was quite known for that as well. And now he’s lost a dramatic amount of weight,” she said.

Hong Kong authorities disputed those concerns, saying Lai has received “adequate and comprehensive” medical care while in custody.

“Professional medical staff provide the most suitable healthcare services to patients, and all PICs (person in custody) are treated equally. Senio

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