US strikes kill Iranian advisor, multiple Syrian soldiers and a civilian, state media says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer flies over northern Iraq after conducting air strikes in Syria against ISIL targets, Sept. 27, 2014. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. forces bombed eastern Syria at dawn, killing at least seven soldiers, including a member of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and one civilian, Syrian and Iranian state media said on Tuesday.

At least 19 other soldiers and 13 civilians were wounded in the strikes that targeted residential areas and military sites in Deir al Zor province and caused significant damage to public and private properties, Syrian state media said.

Iranian state media said an Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser was killed in the U.S. air strikes in eastern Syria, without giving his rank.

Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus to aid President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war.

Sources told Reuters in February that the Guards had scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria after a number of deadly Israeli strikes and would rely more on allied Shi'ite militia to maintain their influence there.

(Reporting by Adam Makary; Editing by Alex Richardson and Tomasz Janowski)