Army shares identities of two soldiers killed in ISIS ambush in Syria

Published December 15, 2025 11:42am ET



The U.S. Army has shared the identities of the two Iowa National Guard troops who were killed on Saturday when an ISIS terrorist opened fire on them in Palmyra, Syria.

Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, were killed in the attack, as was a third American, a civilian, whose identity has not yet been released. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the individual who carried out the “ambush” was an ISIS member who was killed in the aftermath.

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