American airstrikes killed a total of 19 fighters in eastern Syria this week, a UK-based war monitor said Saturday, in the wake of an Iranian drone attack that left a US contractor dead and wounded five American troops.

American airstrikes killed a total of 19 fighters in eastern Syria this week, a UK-based war monitor said Saturday, in the wake of an Iranian drone attack that left a US contractor dead and wounded five American troops.

The retaliatory strikes, conducted Thursday on targets that the Pentagon said were affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed three Syrian troops, 11 pro-government militia members, and five non-Syrian fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The “precision airstrikes” by American F-15 fighter jets sparked a tit-for-tat response by Iran-backed militants Friday, who fired 10 missiles that narrowly missed a US base in northeast Syria — but hit a civilian house, injuring two women and two children, according to US Central Command.

The president late Saturday sent a letter to the House and Senate defending the strikes, stating that he was providing the information to keep Congress “fully informed.”

“The precision strikes were directed at facilities used by groups affiliated with the IRGC for command and control, munitions storage, and other purposes,” Biden’s letter said. “They