Two United States service members and one U.S. civilian interpreter were killed in Palmyra, Syria (Google Maps) on Saturday, December 13, 2025. Three other U.S. service members were wounded. The attack occurred as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement. The soldiers, on a joint U.S.-Syrian patrol to visit a local security force headquarters, were ambushed by a lone attacker.
The gunman was engaged and killed. There are conflicting reports on the background of the attacker. Initial statements by U.S. officials say that the attacker was ISIS. Social media accounts from Kurdish news outlets (Rojava Information Center) indicate the attacker was a member of the Syrian General Security. ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Iowa National Guard released the names of the two soldiers who were killed in Syria. The soldiers were identified as Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25. They were serving in 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division.
The contracted U.S. civilian interpreter was Ayad Sakat, a 54-year-old an Assyrian Christian originally from Iraq. He worked for years as an interpreter with the U.S. Army before coming to the United States in 2007 on a special immigrant visa.
The wounded were evacuated by helicopter to the Al-Tanf base (Google Maps) in southeast Syria near the border with Iraq and Jordan. Al Tanf (CRS map), reopened in 2016, is a remote U.S. military outpost serving as a base for anti-ISIS operations. A Syrian partner force known as the Syrian Free Army (SFA) or Maghawir al-Thawra (Wikipedia) controls the immediate area around the Al Tanf base. The base sits on a strategic line of communication that handles traffic from Iraq into Syria. Two of the wounded will likely be airlifted to a U.S. Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
The two U.S. service members killed are from the Iowa Army National Guard. The soldiers were part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. The three wounded soldiers were also from the Iowa Army National Guard. Roughly 1,900 Iowa Army National Guard soldiers deployed to the Middle East over the summer. A couple of hundred are currently in Syria. This current deployment of the 2nd Brigade is the first full deployment since 2010. Prior to deploying to the Middle East the brigade conducted pre-deployment training at Fort Polk, Louisiana at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC).
The U.S. mission is in support of on-going counter-ISIS and counterterrorism operations in the region. U.S. forces are working with Syrian partners using the “by, with, and through” approach. The core presence of the U.S. military is a mix of elite special operations forces augmented with conventional elements for security, training, and support.
The U.S. currently has hundreds of troops based inside Syria. In the past year the U.S. has been downsizing the Syria contingent from 2,000 to a projected force level of 1,000. Some of the smaller U.S. bases in Syria have been handed over to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a Kurdish partner force located in northeast Syria.
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This story will be updated as more news is available. The names of the soldiers will not be released until 24 hours after the next-of-kin have been notified. There is very little information about the death of the U.S. civilian interpreter.
References:
“U.S. Personnel Ambushed by ISIS Gunman in Syria”, U.S. CENTCOM, @CENTCOM, Dec 13, 2025.
https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/1999883271035822281
“Iowa Army Guard Soldiers Train at Tigerland”, National Guard News, June 20, 2025. https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article-View/Article/4221789/iowa-army-guard-soldiers-train-at-tigerland/
