Dec. 17, 2025: DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Dec. 17, 2025) will undertake one of the most solemn duties facing the commander in chief when he witnesses the dignified transfer of two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian interpreter who were kille d in an attack in the Syrian desert. The solemn ritual at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware honors U.S. service members killed in action. Trump, who traveled to Dover several times in his first term, once described it as “the toughest thing I have to do” as president. The two guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Both were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, and have been hailed as heroes by the Iowa National Guard. Torres-Tovar’s and Howard’s families were at Dover for the return of their remains, alongside Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and leaders of the Iowa National Guard. Their remains will be taken to Iowa after the transfer. A U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, identified Tuesday as Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, was also killed. Three other members of the Iowa National Guard were injured in the attack. The Pentagon has not identified them. They were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group. Trump arrived without first lady Melania Trump, who had been scheduled to join him, according to the president’s public schedule. Her office declined to elaborate, with spokesperson Nick Clemens saying the first lady “was not able to attend today.” During the process at Dover, transfer cases draped with the American flag that hold the soldiers’ remains are carried from the belly of a hulking C-17 military aircraft to a waiting vehicle under the watchful eyes of grieving family members. The vehicle then transports the remains to the mortuary facility at the base, where the fallen are prepared for burial at their final resting places. Howard’s stepfather, Jeffrey Bunn, has said Howard “loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out.” He said Howard had wanted to be a soldier since he was a boy. In a social media post, Bunn, who is chief of the Tama, Iowa, police department, said Howard was a loving husband and an “amazing man of faith.” He said Howard’s brother, a staff sergeant in the Iowa National Guard, would escort “Nate” back to Iowa. Torres-Tovar was remembered as a “very positive” family-oriented person who always put others first, according to fellow Guard members who were deployed with him and issued a statement to the local TV broadcast station WOI. Dina Qiryaqoz, the daughter of the civilian interpreter who was killed, said Wednesday in a statement that her father worked for the U.S. Army during the invasion of Iraq from 2003 to 2007. Sakat is survived by his wife and four adult children. The interpreter was from Bakhdida, Iraq, a small Catholic village southeast of Mosul, and the family immigrated to the U.S. in 2007 on a special visa, Qiryaqoz said. At the time of his death, Sakat was employed as an independent contractor for Virginia-based Valiant Integrated Services. Sakat’s family was still struggling to believe that he is gone. “He was a devoted father and husband, a courageous interpreter and a man who believed deeply in the mission he served,” Qiryaqoz said. Trump told reporters over the weekend that he was mourning the deaths. He vowed retaliation. The most recent instance of U.S. service members killed in action was in January 2024, when three American troops died in a drone attack in Jordan. Saturday’s deadly attack followed a rapprochement between the U.S. and Syria, bringing the former pariah state into a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group. Trump has forged a relationship with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the onetime leader of an Islamic insurgent group who led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad. Trump, who met with al-Sharaa last month at the White House, said Monday that the attack had nothing to do with the Syrian leader, who Trump said was “devastated by what happened.” During his first term, Trump visited Dover in 2017 to honor a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, in 2019 for two Army officers whose helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, and in 2020 for two Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan when a person dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire.   Dec. 16, 2025: WASHINGTON (AP) — The two Iowa National Guard members killed in a weekend attack in Syria that the U.S. military blamed on the Islamic State group were identified Monday (Dec. 15, 2025) and remembered as dedicated soldiers. The U.S. Army named them as Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all flags in Iowa to fly at half-staff in their honor, saying, “We are grateful for their service and deeply mourn their loss.” The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, has said a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter also was killed. Three other Guard members were wounded in the attack, the Iowa National Guard said Monday, with two of them in stable condition and the other in good condition. The attack was a major test for the rapprochement between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago, coming as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces. Hundreds of American troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS. How the attack happened The shooting Saturday in the Syrian desert near the historic city of Palmyra also wounded members of the country’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned amid suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, a Syrian official said. The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba said Sunday. Al-Baba acknowledged that it was “a major security breach” but said that in the year since Assad’s fall, “there have been many more successes than failures” by security forces. The Army said Monday that the incident is under investigation. Military officials and President Donald Trump have blamed the attack on an IS member. Trump administration vows retaliation “Our hearts go out to their families, and we lift them up in prayer for strength and comfort during this time of grief,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday on social media. “The United States of America will avenge these fallen Americans with overwhelming force.” Trump reiterated his promise of retaliation from over the weekend, telling reporters at the White House on Monday that IS will “be hit hard.” He also reaffirmed his support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, saying the Syrian government is not to blame for the deadly attack. “This had nothing to do with him,” Trump said of al-Sharaa. “This is a part of Syria that they really don’t have much control over. And it was a surprise. He feels very badly about it. He’s working on it. He’s a strong man.” Trump welcomed al-Sharaa, who led the lightning insurgency that toppled Assad’s rule, to the White House for a historic meeting last month. Iowa National Guard members remembered as heroes Meanwhile, Torres-Tovar and Howard were remembered as “cherished members” of the Iowa National Guard family, Stephen Osborn, adjutant general, said in a statement. “Our focus now is providing unwavering support to their families through this unimaginable time and ensuring the legacy of these two heroes is never forgotten,” Osborn said. Luis Corona has known Torres-Tovar since middle school, when they played soccer together during recess. They drifted apart while attending different high schools but reconnected after Corona enlisted and saw a familiar face upon joining his Iowa unit after bootcamp. “I was very nervous, very new to the Army. I didn’t know what to expect. And just to see Edgar there, it was a big relief, a huge weight off my shoulders, like, OK, I won’t be alone in this,” Corona told The Associated Press. From then on, he said, their bond grew into a brotherhood. Torres-Tovar’s defining trait was his selflessness, Corona said. He was remembered as a role model to his younger siblings and all the newly enlisted soldiers in the unit. Corona learned of his friend’s death while reading the news. “No!” he shouted at the top of his lungs in what he later described as an expression of “disbelief, shock, sadness, anger, just every form of distraught you can think of.” Howard had wanted to be a soldier since he was a young boy, according to Jeffrey Bunn, Howard’s stepfather and chief of the Meskwaki Nation Police Department in Tama, Iowa, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Des Moines. Howard “loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out,” Bunn wrote Saturday on the department’s Facebook page. Howard also was a loving husband and an “amazing man of faith,” Bunn said, adding that Howard’s younger brother, a staff sergeant in the Iowa National Guard, would escort “Nate” back to Iowa. Howard was inspired by his grandfather’s service and wanted to serve for 20 years, according to an April post on a Facebook page dedicated to sharing stories of the unit. He had served for over 11 years. ...read more read less