President Joe Biden emphasized Friday afternoon that the US will "forcefully protect our people," a day after approving retaliatory airstrikes in response to a drone attack by an Iranian-backed group in Syria that left one American dead and more injured.

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

Airstrikes in retaliation to attack on base in north-east by suspected Iranian-made drone that killed US contractor

Iranian rocket attacks in Syria have injured U.S. forces in the eastern portion of Syria, Fox News has learned.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the retaliatory strikes targeted facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Syrian opposition activists say Iran-backed fighters are on alert in eastern Syria, a day after U.S. forces launched retaliatory airstrikes on sites in the war-torn country.