- Two U.S. soldiers were killed Dec. 13 in a Syria ambush by ISIS.
- President Trump vowed retaliation, emphasizing the Syrian government's cooperation against ISIS.
- Syrian forces arrested five suspects; three other Iowa National Guard members were wounded.
WASHINGTON — The two U.S. Army soldiers killed in Syria on Saturday were both members of the Iowa National Guard.
The Army said in a statement on Monday that Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa, "died December 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria, of injuries sustained while engaged with hostile forces."
An American civilian interpreter was also killed in the attack, which was carried out by a single ISIS gunman, the Department of Defense said Saturday. Three other Iowa National Guard members were wounded.
President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate, declaring "there will be a lot of damage done to the people that did it" in front of a crowd at a White House Christmas reception on Sunday.
"We had three great patriots terminated by bad people, and not the Syrian government; it was ISIS," he said, adding that the new president of Syria has "fought by our side."
The deadly attack comes as Damascus has sought to strengthen ties with the U.S. after the Assad dictatorship was overthrown last year.
U.S. troops have operated for years across multiple locations in Syria as they've trained Syrian partner forces as part of the wider fight against ISIS. American personnel have previously come under attack, and Saturday's incident is the deadliest since a 2019 blast that struck a patrol, killing two U.S. service members and two U.S. civilians.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said Saturday on X that the soldiers' "mission was in support of ongoing counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region."
Roughly 1,800 Iowa Army National Guard soldiers began deploying to the Middle East in late May to support Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. mission to defeat ISIS, according to a Saturday statement from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' office.
Nathaniel Howard's father, Meskwaki Nation Police Chief Jeffrey Bunn, had shared in a statement posted to Facebook on Saturday that his son was one of the individuals who had been killed.
"Our son Nate was one of the soldiers that paid the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, to keep us all safer," Bunn said. "He loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out, no one left behind. Please pray for our Soldiers all around this cruel world."
Syrian forces arrested five suspects in connection with the ambush on Sunday, according to Syria's Interior Ministry. The suspects were "immediately placed under investigation," the ministry said in a statement.
