Trump attends dignified switch for Iowa Guard members killed in Syria

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President Donald Trump and took part within the dignified switch for 2 members of the Iowa Nationwide Guard who had been killed in Syria this weekend.

The Wednesday switch at Dover Air Pressure Base in Delaware noticed the return of Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, return to U.S. soil. The 2 males had been killed in an ambush by an ISIS gunman . Their interpreter, U.S. civilian Ayad Mansoor Sakat, was additionally killed, and his case was additionally introduced house on Wednesday.

Struggle Secretary Pete Hegseth additionally attended the switch. First woman Melania Trump was scheduled to attend the occasion, however she was in the end unable to take part.

WAR SEC. HEGSETH ISSUES STATEMENT AFTER TWO U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN SYRIA ARE IDENTIFIED

President Donald Trump steps off Air Pressure One to attend the return of the stays of two Iowa Nationwide Guard members killed in an assault in Syria throughout a solemn occasion at Dover Air Pressure Base in Delaware on Dec. 17, 2025. (Picture by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP through Getty Photographs)

"The dignified switch isn't a ceremony; somewhat, it's a solemn motion of the switch case by a carry group composed of navy personnel from the fallen member's respective service," Air Pressure Mortuary Affairs Operations reads. "A dignified switch is carried out for each U.S. navy member who dies within the theater of operation whereas within the service of their nation."

Wednesday's occasion was the primary dignified switch Trump has attended since returning to workplace in January.

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Sgt. William Howard (left) and Sgt. Edgar Torres-Tovar (proper) died Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 in Palmyra, Syria. (Iowa Nationwide Guard)

Torres-Tovar and Howard had been assigned to 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Fight Workforce, thirty fourth Infantry Division of the Iowa Nationwide Guard.

Meskwaki Nation Police Chief Jeffrey Bunn had recognized his son Nate as one of many U.S. service members who was killed within the assault in a Sunday Fb publish.

TRUMP ADDRESSES TRIO OF ATTACKS IN SYRIA, BROWN UNIVERSITY, AND AUSTRALIA AT WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS EVENT

US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth salute as a US Military carry group strikes the switch case containing the stays of US Military Sgt. William Howard, in the course of the dignified switch of the stays of two Iowa Nationwide Guard members killed in an assault in Syria throughout a ceremony at Dover Air Pressure Base in Delaware on Dec. 17, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP through Getty Photographs)

"My spouse Misty and I had that go to from Military Commanders you by no means wish to have. Our son Nate was one of many Troopers that paid the final word sacrifice for all of us, to maintain us all safer. He beloved what he was doing and could be the primary in and final out, nobody left behind. Please pray for our troopers throughout this merciless world. We are going to see you once more son, till then we have now i[t] from right here," Bunn wrote.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated Saturday that two Army soldiers and one civilian U.S. interpreter had been killed, and three had been wounded in the course of the assault.

ARMY IDENTIFIES TWO IOWA NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS KILLED IN SYRIA

U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Struggle Pete Hegseth salute as a U.S. Military carry group strikes a flagged-draped switch case containing the stays of Iowa Nationwide Guardsman Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard at Dover Air Pressure Base on Dec. 17, 2025 in Dover, Delaware. Iowa Nationwide Guard members Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, had been killed throughout a current ambush by an Islamic State (IS) gunman in Syria. (Picture by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs)

The service members had been conducting a key chief engagement with native companions in assist of ongoing counter-ISIS operations when the attacker opened hearth.

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A Pentagon official instructed Fox Information Digital the assault occurred in an space exterior the management of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and that preliminary assessments point out it was seemingly carried out by ISIS.

Fox Information' Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox Information Digital overlaying nationwide politics and main breaking information occasions. Ship tricks to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on X: @Hagstrom_Anders.