JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

President Trump is vowing to avenge the deaths of two U.S.

soldiers and an American civilian interpreter in Syria.

And U.S.

officials tell PBS News the shooter had ties to ISIS and had infiltrated Syrian security forces.

The Pentagon said the two soldiers, members of the Iowa National Guard and the interpreter were ambushed by a lone gunman in the historic city of Palmyra, about 130 miles northeast of Damascus.

They were taking part in ongoing counterterrorism missions.

The gunman was killed and according to U.S.

official, he was already under investigation for his ties to ISIS.

Mr.

Trump paid tribute to the three as he left the White House this afternoon for the Army Navy football game.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S.

President: We mourn the loss.

These are great, three great people and it's just a terrible thing.

We will retaliate.

Thank you very much.

JOHN YANG: In 2019, during his first term, President Trump said ISIS and Syria had been defeated.

The U.S.

kept about 2,000 troops in eastern Syria to clamp down on south sleeper cells.

Belarus freed more than 100 prisoners after the United States said it would lift sanctions on the close ally of Russia.

Among those pardoned by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko were two opposition leaders and Ales Bialiatski, who shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Earlier, U.S.

special envoy John Coale said the United States would lift sanctions on potash fertilizer, one of the nation's most important exports.

Cole said improving U.S.-Belarusian relations could lead to more prisoner releases.

JOHN COALE, U.S.

Special Envoy to Belarus: President Lukashenko, who should get a tremendous amount of credit for this.

I think that he is moving.

He wants more normalized relationship with the United States and the west.

So we're moving in that direction.

JOHN YANG: Lukashenko is an authoritarian leader known for dealing harshly with dissidents.

Western nations have sanctioned Belarus for cracking down on human rights and for letting Russia use its territory to invade Ukraine.

And in Ukraine, an overnight barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks across the nation left more than a million people without power in the harsh winter cold.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 450 Russian drone strikes and 30 missiles hit five regions of the nation.

At least two people were killed.

The assault came as Germany hosts U.S.

and Ukrainian officials to discuss President Trump's peace proposal ahead of Monday's summit with European allies.

Comedy legend Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 100th birthday today.

Beginning in the 1960s, Van Dyke starred in television seminal sitcom the Dick Van Dyke Show on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his performance in "Bye Bye Birdie" and in movies, including the Disney classic "Mary Poppins," where he was alongside Julie Andrews.

Last year, Van Dyke became the oldest daytime Emmy winner for a guest role on a soap opera.