"At approximately 0700 EDT on 27 OCT[ober], US forces engaged a one-way attack drone a few kilometers from Al-Asad Air Base, Iraq, and successfully shot it down without further incident," the official said.
The latest military strike comes hours after the US Department of Defense confirmed it had carried out an operation against two targets in eastern Syria as part of the Biden administration's response to recent strikes against US and allied troops in Iraq and Syria.
It was previously detailed by the Pentagon that the late Thursday operation involved a pair of US F-16 fighter jets, and that the aircraft had targeted ammunition and weapons depots belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which the US claims helped to provide aid to militia groups that carried out strikes against US troops.
"These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17," a Thursday statement by the Pentagon read.
Prior to the Thursday strike, the Pentagon detailed that at least 16 attacks had been carried out against bases housing US forces just this month, and that 19 out of 21 American service members had sustained "traumatic brain injuries."
The US actions additionally come on the heels of decisions to deploy some 900 troops to the Middle East as a means to bolster security in the region, which has been experiencing an uptick in hostilities following the start of Hamas' October 7 surprise attack against Israel.