US strikes Syria after American killed by drone

US forces carried out “precision airstrikes” in eastern Syria after a drone attack killed one American and injured six others. The drone attack took place around 1:38 p.m. Thursday (11:38 a.m. in France) against a maintenance facility at a base near Hasakah, in the northeast of the country, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Drone “of Iranian origin”

US intelligence services consider the drone to be “of Iranian origin”, the Pentagon added.

The deceased person is an American contractor, and the injured are five soldiers and another contractor who are also American, according to the same source.

“I have authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps,” it said. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was quoted in the statement. “The airstrikes were carried out in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks on coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps,” he said. he specified.

Several hundred American soldiers are in Syria as part of a coalition fighting against the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) group. They are frequently targeted in attacks by militias.