Suspected Iran drone kills US worker in Syria; US retaliates

US forces launch precision airstrikes targeting facilities used by groups linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards

A strike Thursday by a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a U.S. contractor and wounded five American troops and another contractor in northeast Syria, the Pentagon said. American forces said they retaliated soon after with “precision airstrikes” in Syria targeting facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with activist groups saying the U.S. bombing killed at least four people.

The attack and the U.S. response threaten to upend recent efforts to de-escalate tensions across the wider Middle East, whose rival powers have made steps toward détente in recent days after years of turmoil.