More than 18 attacks by Israel on multiple targets took place near the Syrian-Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Israeli night attacks targeting Syrian military bases and positions in eastern Syria have killed at least seven Syrian soldiers and 16 friendly militants, in the deadliest raids since 2018, a war analyst said Wednesday.
The Israeli air force carried out more than 18 attacks against several targets in an area stretching from the eastern city of Deir Az Zor to the al-Bukamal desert at the Syrian-Iraq border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The raid killed seven Syrian soldiers and 16 non-Syrian militia fighters whose nationalities were not immediately known, the British-based investigative group said.
Paramilitaries belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Fatimid Brigade, which is made up of pro-Iranian Afghan fighters, will work in the area, the Observatory said.
The raid wounded 28 soldiers and soldiers, some critically.
A senior U.S. intelligence official with knowledge of the attack told The Associated Press that the raid was carried out with intelligence provided by the United States and targeted a series of warehouses in Syria that were being used as part of the attack. pipeline to store and platform Iran. weapons.
The official said the warehouses also acted as a pipeline for components that will support Iran’s nuclear program.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported the attacks but did not provide further details.
“At 1:10 am [23:10 GMT], the Israeli enemy launched an air strike on the town of Deir Ezzor and the Al Bukamal area, ”said SANA, citing a military source.
“The results of the attack are currently being confirmed,” he said.
Local news source DeirEzzor24 reported that several warehouses and sites related to pro-Iranian militias were hit in the area.
“They fired jobs from Iran in Deir Ezzor,” said Omar Abu Laila, a European-based activist from the Deir Ezzor region in eastern Syria who runs an activist group that reports on news in the region of Syria. boundary.
A plane makes a bomb run over Syria near the Israeli-Syrian border as seen from Golan Heights in Israel on July 24, 2018 [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]Normal prey
The attacks were the second wave of Israeli attacks in Syria in less than a week.
The last airstrikes on January 7 targeted posts in southern Syria and south of the Damascus capital, killing three pro-Iran fighters.
Israel routinely carries out attacks in Syria, mostly against Iran-linked targets in what it says is an attempt to prevent the enemy from being captured another on its borders.
According to Israeli media, the area under fire has been hit by Israel more than once in recent years as it is home to several bases used by Iranian-backed groups.
The region is also important in a land corridor for Tehran that connects Iran across Iraq and Syria through Lebanon, which Iran uses for smuggling in weapons and rockets, especially for the Hezbollah armed group.
Iran has members of its own army as well as fighters from various nationalities fighting militias that it supports to use throughout Syria.
Israel hit about 50 targets in Syria in 2020, according to an annual report released in late December by the Israeli military.
The Israeli army has waged hundreds of airstrikes and missiles on Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, slamming Hezbollah forces from Iran and Lebanon as well as government troops.