Iowa National Guard identifies 2 soldiers killed in ‘ambush’ in Syria

The Iowa National Guard on Dec. 15 identified the two soldiers killed by a gunman with suspected ties to the Islamic state in Syria.

They are Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25.

The two sergeants killed were members of an Iowa Army National Guard unit deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military’s counter-ISIS mission, the Iowa National Guard said in its announcement.

The soldiers were killed alongside their interpreter in an “ambush by a lone ISIS gunman,” U.S. Central Command said in a Dec. 13 statement. “The gunman was engaged and killed.”

Three servicemembers were also injured in the attack, according to the statement.

Howard’s father, the chief of the Meskwaki Nation Police Department in central Iowa, shared on Facebook that his son was one of the soldiers killed.

“My wife Misty and I had that visit from Army Commanders you never want to have. Our son Nate was one of the Soldiers that paid the ultimate sacrifice for all of us,” Chief Jeffrey Bunn wrote in a post on Dec. 13.

Bunn identified the interpreter killed as Ayad Sakat.

The troops were killed while they were on a “key leader engagement” in Palmyra, a city in central Syria, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X. “Partner forces” killed the attacker, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.

The shooter was a member of the country’s security forces who had been investigated and assessed to harbor possible extremist views just days before the attack, according to Syria’s government.

President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate after the attack. “There will be very serious retaliation,” he wrote in a social media post.

Trump has tightened ties with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaida fighter who toppled his predecessor, Bashar al-Assad, in a stunning overthrow late last year.