US forces carried out "precision airstrikes" in eastern Syria after a drone attack that killed an American and injured six others, the Pentagon announced on Thursday evening March 23.

These bombardments are a response to a drone attack on Thursday which also injured 6 Americans.

The drone attack took place around 10:38 GMT on Thursday against a base maintenance facility near Hasakah in northeastern Syria, the Pentagon said in a statement. 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.

Several hundred American soldiers are in Syria as part of a coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group.