US retaliates after drone strike kills American contractor

Videos on social media purported to show explosions in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor, a strategic province bordering Iraq and containing oil fields

US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin (Andrew Harnik/AP)

A US contractor was killed and another hurt alongside five American armed forces personnel when a suspected Iranian drone attacked a facility on a coalition base in north-east Syria, the Pentagon said.

Defence secretary Lloyd Austin said US Central Command forces hit back with “precision airstrikes” against facilities in eastern Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.