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President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will attend the dignified transfer of two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in the Syrian desert.
The ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware honors U.S. service members who die while serving the nation. President Trump, who attended similar ceremonies several times during his first term, has previously described the ritual as “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.
The soldiers killed on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, the U.S. Army said. Both served with the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment of the Iowa National Guard and have been remembered by Guard leaders as heroes.
A U.S. civilian interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat of Macomb, Michigan, was also killed in the attack, officials said Tuesday. Three additional Iowa National Guard members were wounded. Their identities have not been released.
The fallen were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of an international coalition working to defeat the Islamic State group.
During a dignified transfer, flag-draped transfer cases carrying the remains of fallen service members are moved from a military aircraft to a waiting vehicle. The remains are then taken to the base’s mortuary facility, where preparations are made for their return to families and final burial.
President Trump said over the weekend that he was mourning the deaths and pledged retaliation against those responsible for the attack. The shooting occurred amid a period of improving relations between the United States and Syria, following the country’s inclusion in a U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State fighters.
The president has developed ties with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the insurgency that toppled longtime ruler Bashar Assad. President Trump met with al-Sharaa at the White House last month and said Monday that the Syrian leader was not responsible for the attack.
“This had nothing to do with him,” President Trump said, adding that al-Sharaa was “devastated by what happened.”
