Deaths and injuries reported in an attack carried out on Israel in northeastern Syria late Tuesday, according to Iranian media outlets that said ambulances were ripped to the scene.
The strike was the fourth time that Iranian-backed targets have been attacked in Syria in the past three weeks.
Syrian air defenses were deployed over Damascus in a strike given to Israel earlier this year
Syrian news agency SANA said there was a late-night attack near the border with Iraq, in the al-Bukamal desert in the Deir ez-Zor region, but did not report any injuries.
The area is considered a land corridor for Iranian workers and armed forces transported through Iraq to militias and agents in Syria and Lebanon.
The al-Bukamal border route runs between Syria and Iraq
(Photo: AP)
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the targets were 18 Iranian-backed militia-controlled sites and of the 16 reported killed in the strike, five were Syrians and 11 others, members of the militia.
Last week an Israeli strike in southern Syria was reported by unofficial reports that at least three people were killed near Damascus when missiles hit the city, which as well as targets on Golan Heights Syria.
Strike over Israel in southern Syria in November
A week earlier, following another alleged attack by a Syrian news agency carried out by Israel in the northern Masyaf region, an Israeli civil airline en route to Tel Aviv was told to take off course to avoid any retaliation from the Syrian air defenses.
Forced by an El Al flight west to Cyprus to stay clear of the Syrian and Lebanese coasts, the plane landed safely at Ben Gurion International Airport shortly afterwards.