US launches airstrikes in Syria after Iranian drone kills one and injures five

The US has launched airstrikes in Syria in response to a drone attack which killed one US contractor, injuring five US service members along with another contractor, reports the New York Times.

The strikes were ordered against groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin under President Biden’s direction.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the I.R.G.C.,” Mr Austin said in a statement released late Thursday.

“These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel,” the statement said. “The United States took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties.”

Senior U.S. military officials said that United States Air Force F-15E fighter jets attacked a munition warehouse, a control building and an intelligence-collection site, killing eight pro-Iran fighters in eastern Syria

Mr Austin continued, “As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing . . . no group will strike our troops with impunity.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is a powerful branch of Iran’s armed forces that operate in parallel with the military. The U.S. has designated it a terrorist group.

Two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while the three other service members and the contractor were evacuated to coalition medical facilities in Iraq. The contractor who was killed has not yet been identified, pending notification of his family.

There are still more than 900 US troops, and hundreds more contractors, in Syria, working with Kurdish fighters to make sure there is no resurgence of the Islamic State.

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