A series of airstrikes were launched overnight in Syria by US forces, in response to a drone attack in the northeast, attributed to Iranian elite forces, which killed a contractor and injured 6 other people.
US intelligence believes the drone was of Iranian origin.
"At the direction of President Biden, I have authorized US Central Command forces to conduct precision air strikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)," he said. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III.
"The air strikes were carried out in response to today's attack, as well as a number of recent attacks on coalition forces in Syria by IRGC-affiliated groups."
These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend US personnel.
The United States has taken proportionate and deliberate actions aimed at limiting the risk of escalation and minimizing casualties.
"As President Biden has made clear,
A US contractor was killed and five soldiers plus one professional were injured after a drone strikes a military base in northeastern Syria, the Pentagon said.
"A US contractor was killed and five US service personnel and another US mercenary were injured after a kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility at a coalition base near Hasakah in northeastern Syria ", the Defense Department said in a statement.
US intelligence believes the drone was "of Iranian origin," the statement added.