Israeli airstrikes in eastern Syria have killed 57 Iranian-run regime forces and Iranian-friendly militants in the deadliest strikes since the conflict began, a militant research group said Wednesday.
The overnight killings against military bases and military positions killed at least 14 Syrian regime forces, 16 Iraqi militant fighters and 11 Afghan members of the pro-Iranian Fatimid Brigade, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The nationality of the other 16 people who lost their lives in the 18 strikes was not immediately clear.
“This is the highest death toll from Israeli attacks in Syria,” said Syrian Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman.
The official Syrian news agency Sana said that “the Israeli enemy carried out an air strike on the town of Deir Ezzor and the Albu Kamal region”, adding that “the results of the attack are currently being confirmed”.
An Israeli army spokesman declined to comment.
Days before the strikes, the Fatimid Brigade transported weapons from Iran to eastern Syria from nearby Iraq, said the UK-based observatory, which is responsible for a network of ground sources. They were stored in the targeted area overnight, he said.
It is less than a week since the last wave of Israel hit Syria. On Thursday, Israel targeted posts at southern and southern Damascus, killing three pro-Iranian militants.
Israel routinely carries out attacks in Syria, mostly against Iranian-linked targets in what it says is an attempt to prevent the arch-enemy from consolidating foot- step on its northern boundary.
Observers have warned that Donald Trump and Israel could go up against Iran and its regional allies in the final days of the US presidential tenure.
The Trump administration, which is set to make room for Joe Biden on Jan. 20, gave unprecedented U.S. support to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“In the dying days of the Trump administration, Netanyahu is trying to do as much damage to IRGC’s effort in Syria before Biden takes office,” Nicholas Heras, of the War Detectives Institute, citing Ar-a the Islamic Corps of Ioran Corps of the Guards.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and missiles on Syria since the start of a civil war in 2011, targeting Hezbollah forces from Iran and Lebanon as well as Syrian government troops.
Israel rarely admits individual strikes but they have done so in response to what he describes as an attack within Israeli territory.
It hit about 50 targets in Syria in 2020, according to an annual report released by the military.
The latest raid came hours after separate strikes near the Iraqi border killed at least 12 Iranian-backed militia fighters on Tuesday. The Observatory said it could not identify the warplanes responsible for the previous strikes.
The war in Syria has killed more than 387,000 people and displaced millions since it erupted in the wake of the brutal brutality of anti-government protests.