The United States launched airstrikes in Syria after a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and an additional contractor were injured from a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle attack believed to be Iranian-made, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
The attack took place at about 1:30 p.m. local time at a coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria. Two of the wounded service members were cared for at the site, while the three others and surviving wounded contractor were evacuated to coalition medical facilities in Iraq, the department said.
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“At the direction of President Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said. “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 IRGC.”
The strikes were launched in order to protect and defend U.S. personnel by taking “proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties,” the Department of Defense added.
The U.S. has more than 900 troops and hundreds more contractors in eastern Syria, assisting Syrian Kurdish forces to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, according to ABC News. Drone attacks have targeted bases where U.S. service members are stationed in recent months, with Iranian-backed groups likely responsible for the attacks, the news outlet reported.
The troops are expected to remain in the region to help defeat ISIS, U.S. Central Command leader Gen. Michael Kurilla said Thursday.
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“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,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
“Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack earlier today,” the secretary added.
