US strikes Iran-backed facilities in Syria after drone kills American

The US military carried out multiple air strikes in Syria on March 23 night against Iran-aligned groups that it blamed for a drone attack that killed an American contractor, wounded another and also hurt five US troops, the Pentagon said.

Both the attack on US personnel and the retaliation were disclosed by the Pentagon at the same time late on March 23, Reuters reports.

The attack against US personnel took place at a coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. (1038 GMT) on March 23, it said.

The US intelligence community assessed that the one-way attack drone was Iranian in origin, the military said, a conclusion that could further aggravate already strained relations between Washington and Tehran.

Although US forces stationed in Syria have been targeted by drones before, fatalities are extremely rare.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the retaliatory strikes were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden and targeted facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"The air strikes were conducted in response to today's [March 23] attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC," Austin said in a statement.

"No group will strike our troops with impunity."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war in Syria, said the US strikes had left eight pro-Iranian fighters dead in Syria.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the toll.

Iran's state Press TV, saying no Iranian had been killed in the attack, quoted local sources as denying the target was an Iran-aligned military post, but that a rural development center and a grain center near a military airport were hit.

It said: "A military source in Syria told Press TV that the resistance groups reserve their right to respond to the American attack and will take reciprocal action."