Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday vowed that the U.S. will “avenge … with overwhelming force” the two Iowa National Guard members killed in an ambush in Syria.
Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, were killed Saturday in Palmyra along with a civilian interpreter involved in counterterrorism efforts. Three other U.S. service members and two members of the Syrian security forces were also wounded in the attack, with the Trump administration blaming a lone gunman that was part of the Islamic State.
“The United States of America will avenge these fallen Americans with overwhelming force,” Hegseth said in a post to X. “Their memory will live on through their families, their fellow warriors still serving our country, and in my unwavering commitment to our warfighters around the globe.”
President Trump directly after the attack promised to retaliate in a “very serious” way, and on Monday said that the terrorist group will “be hit hard.”
Trump also defended keeping troops in Syria — with roughly 1,000 American forces in the country for counterterrorism operations — saying they are there as “we’re trying to make sure that there’s gonna be remain peace in the Middle East, and Syria is a big part of it.”
He praised the new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, calling him “a strong person” and insisting he and the Syrian government had nothing to do with the attack.
“This is a rough part of the world and it’s amazing what’s taken place in Syria. . . . We have legitimate peace in the Middle East, first time in 3,000 years.”
Al-Sharaa, who ousted Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad last year, has sought to restore control over his country and unify its military force, a daunting task as it remains deeply fractured.
U.S. forces have been in the country for years to keep ISIS insurgents and Iranian proxies at bay, as well as guard strategically important areas such as oil fields.
But terrorist attacks persist, with Syria’s Interior Ministry saying it had warned its U.S. counterparts about potential ISIS attacks on American troops.
That warning became a reality when the ISIS gunman infiltrated a Saturday meeting between Syrian forces and a handful of international coalition forces gathering to discuss ways to fight the terrorist group, according to the Interior Ministry.
A senior U.S. military official told The New York Times that’s why the U.S. soldiers were providing security for the meeting.
“This was a lone gunman who was ISIS,” the official told the outlet. “He got lucky.”