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 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 that, “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.
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.
“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 said over the weekend that “there will be very serious retaliation” for the attack and that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was “devastated by what happened,” stressing that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops.
Trump welcomed al-Sharaa, who led the lightning insurgency that toppled Assad’s rule, to the White House for a historic meeting last month.
Meanwhile, Torres-Tovar and Howard were remembered as dedicated soldiers and “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.
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.
Three fellow members of the Iowa Guard who were deployed with Torres-Tovar reflected on his character in a joint statement to local TV broadcast station, WOI.
David Hernandez, Freddy Sarceño and Luis Corona described him as “very positive,” family oriented and always putting others first.
Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
This undated photo released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard. (Iowa National Guard via AP)
This undated photo released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar. (Iowa National Guard via AP)
This undated combo photo created with images released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgts. William Nathaniel Howard, left, and Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar. (Iowa National Guard via AP)
BERLIN (AP) — The U.S. has agreed to provide unspecified security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end Russia's nearly four-year war, and more talks are likely this weekend, U.S. officials said Monday following the latest discussions with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.
The officials said talks with President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, led to narrowing differences on security guarantees that Kyiv said must be provided, as well as on Moscow’s demand that Ukraine concede land in the Donbas region in the country’s east.
Trump was expected to dial into a dinner Monday evening with negotiators and European leaders, with more talks likely this weekend in Miami or elsewhere in the United States, according to the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly by the White House.
The U.S. officials said the offer of security guarantees won’t be on the table “forever.” They said the Trump administration plans to put forward the agreement on guarantees for Senate approval, although they didn’t specify whether it would be ratified like a treaty, which needs the chamber's two-thirds approval.
In a statement, European leaders in Berlin said they and the U.S. committed to work together to provide “robust security guarantees” including a European-led ”multinational force Ukraine" supported by the U.S.
They said the force's work would include "operating inside Ukraine" as well as assisting in rebuilding Ukraine's forces, securing its skies and supporting safer seas. They said Ukrainian forces should remain at a peacetime level of 800,000.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it a “truly far-reaching, substantial agreement that we did not have before, namely that both Europe and the U.S. are jointly prepared to do this.”
Questions over Ukraine's postwar security and the fate of occupied territories have been the main obstacles in talks. Zelenskyy has emphasized that any Western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress. Meanwhile, Russia has said it will not accept any troops from NATO countries being based on Ukrainian soil.
Zelenskyy on Monday called talks “substantial” and noted that differences remain on the issue of territories.
Zelenskyy has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO military alliance if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine’s preference remains NATO membership as the best security guarantee to prevent further Russian aggression.
Ukraine has continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of Donetsk region still under its control as a key condition for peace.
The U.S. officials on Monday said there is consensus on about 90% of the U.S.-authored peace plan, and that Russia has indicated it is open to Ukraine joining the European Union, something it previously said it did not object to.
The Russian president has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, however, as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.
Asked whether the negotiations could be over by Christmas, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said trying to predict a potential time frame for a peace deal was a “thankless task.”
“I can only speak for the Russian side, for President Putin,” Peskov said. “He is open to peace, to a serious peace and serious decisions. He is absolutely not open to any tricks aimed at stalling for time.”
Putin has denied plans to attack any European allies.
Russia fired 153 drones of various types at Ukraine overnight Sunday into Monday, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, which said 133 drones were neutralized, while 17 more hit their targets.
In Russia, the Defense Ministry on Monday said forces destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones overnight. An additional 16 drones were destroyed between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. local time.
Eighteen drones were shot down over Moscow itself, the defense ministry said. Flights were temporarily halted at the city’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports as part of safety measures, officials said.
Damage details and casualty figures were not immediately available.
Madhani reported from Washington. Seung Min Kim in Washington; Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin; Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, talian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, front row from left, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Dick Schoof,Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, back row from left, stand together in the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, meet at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)
The flags of the participating nations are seen at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber,Pool)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacts during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, center right, attend the German-Ukrainian Economic Forum in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy smiles during a visit of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, in the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, center right, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, President of Ukraine, leave the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa/dpa via AP)
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the Bellevue Palace for talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy of the United States, center, exits from the American Embassy in Berlin, Monday Dec. 15, 2025. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)
Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, exits from the American Embassy in Berlin, Monday Dec. 15, 2025. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)
Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, leaves through a hotel garage for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,stands in his office in the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)
Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief adviser to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, watches Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving at the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)
