Two US Army soldiers, Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar (25) and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard (29), both members of the Iowa National Guard, and a US civilian interpreter were killed in an ambush by a lone Islamic State (IS) gunman near Palmyra, Syria, on Saturday.
Three other US service members were injured in the attack, which occurred during a joint “key leader engagement” with Syrian partner forces as part of ongoing counter-terrorism operations. The gunman was “engaged and killed,” according to US Central Command (Centcom), with preliminary assessments suggesting the assailant was an IS operative who may have previously been a member of the Syrian security forces.
Three Americans — two soldiers and one civilian — were gunned down Saturday by an Islamic State terrorist in Syria, the Pentagon said, with three U.S. service members wounded in what officials called an ambush. https://t.co/ROcIG1Zv5t
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) December 13, 2025
This is the first attack to inflict US casualties in Syria since the fall of the former Syrian president last year. US President Donald Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” for what he labeled an “ISIS attack against the U.S. and Syria,” noting that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed.”
The incident underscores the continued threat posed by IS sleeper cells, which the UN estimates still number between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters across Syria and Iraq.
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