"Nine pro-Iran militiamen were killed and more than 20 wounded as a result of airstrikes that targeted sites and headquarters of Iran-affiliated militias in Deir ez-Zor after midnight," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor, adding that an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander was among the dead.
SOHR later updated the death toll, saying four militants were killed in a separate airstrike on the town of al-Bukamal in Deir ez-Zor countryside. The strikes injured 36 people, including ten civilians.
Local news outlet DeirEzzor24 said the strikes targeted military and security headquarters of the IRGC in the province, seriously injuring an IRGC commander known as Hajj Askar.
The strikes come amid simmering tensions in Syria and Iraq against the backdrop of the Israel-Gaza war, with Washington having previously engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with pro-Iran militias in the region.
US troops in Iraq and Syria have come under a series of rocket and drone attacks by pro-Iran militias since October 7, in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in its war against the Gaza Strip.
In early February, Washington launched a large-scale retaliation campaign against IRGC-Quds Force and affiliated militia groups in Syria. The strikes were ordered in retaliation for the deaths of three US soldiers in a drone strike carried out by pro-Iran militias on a US military base in Jordan a week prior.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the IRGC, has claimed responsibility for over 165 rocket and drone attacks on US interests in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
World Health Organization says staff member killed in Syria strikes Tuesday
| But why was the WHO staffer hanging out with Iran’s sockpuppets? Don’t people realize that being near one of Israel’s targets is unhealthy? |
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KABOOM!...
s launched hours earlier in the country’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, which also killed 16 pro-Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...militiamen.
Emad Shehab was working as an engineer with the organization and was the focal point for water, sanitation, and hygiene in the city. Shehab was killed when his building was struck by the airstrikes launched in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
"His untimely death is a stark reminder of the ongoing violence and suffering endured by the people of Syria. He will be greatly missed," WHO Director-General Tedris Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least 16 pro-Iranian Death Eaters were killed in the strikes. Iranian media reported the death of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser in the strikes.
Local news outlet DeirEzzor24 said the strikes targeted military and security headquarters of the IRGC in the province, seriously injuring an IRGC commander known as Hajj Askar.
Syria’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes and blamed Washington for switching roles with Israel, accusing both of seek to cause regional instability.
Washington on Tuesday evening denied carrying out the strikes.
"We did not carry out air strikes in Syria last night," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told news hounds.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 12-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias such as
...the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entityâ„¢, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade...
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Hezbollah group that supports the Syrian army. The US has also carried several rounds of retaliatory strikes on IRGC positions in Syria following attacks by Iran-backed militia groups on American bases in the country and neighboring Iraq.Iran says IRGC officers serve an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of the government to prop up Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
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Terror of Aleppo ...
during a decade-long civil war. Iran-backed militia groups maintain a strong foothold in Deir ez-Zor, particularly in the area near the Iraqi border.