ABC News
The U.S. military conducted retaliatory airstrikes in eastern Syria on Thursday against Iranian-backed groups after a deadly drone strike targeting a U.S. base in the region killed a U.S. contractor and injured six others, including five U.S. military service members, the Pentagon said. "Earlier today, a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one additional U.S. contractor were wounded after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time," the Pentagon said in a statement. "At the direction of President [Joe] 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)," Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement issued late Thursday.