Six pro-Iran fighters killed in airstrike, suspected to be Israeli, in eastern Syria

Six pro-Iran fighters were killed in an airstrike suspected to be Israeli on Monday night in locations in eastern Syria where Tehran-supported militant groups are active, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

The Syrian Defense Ministry announced after midnight that two Syrian soldiers were wounded by another Israeli strike targeting military sites near Deir ez-Zur in the east of the country. 

The Observatory reported the killing of "six non-Syrian fighters in an Israeli airstrike that targeted on Monday evening three sites for pro-Iran groups in an area near the city of Al Bukamal near the Syrian-Iraqi border." 

Iranian and Iraqi forces, as well as Tehran-backed groups, including Hezbollah, are widely deployed in a vast area in eastern Deir ez-Zur, especially between the cities of Al Bukamal and Al Mayadin. The Observatory estimates the number of those groups' members at around 15,000 fighters. 

For its part, the Syrian Defense Ministry reported other strikes that targeted sites in the same province. 

In a statement, it stated that at around 11:50 pm local time on Monday, "the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression against some of our armed forces' sites in the vicinity of Deir ez-Zur city," leading to "the injury of two soldiers, with some material losses." 

According to the Observatory, air force units belonging to Iran with pro-Iranian groups are stationed in the targeted area. 

Since the start of the conflict in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, targeting regime forces, Iranian and other pro-Iranian militias, and Hezbollah. The strikes are rarely officially acknowledged, but Israel repeatedly asserts its opposition to Iranian attempts to solidify its military presence in Syria. 

On September 14, two Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the coastal province of Tartus‎ in western Syria. 

Since 2011, Syria has witnessed a devastating multi-faceted conflict that has led to the deaths of more than half a million people, massive infrastructure damage, and the displacement and forced displacement of more than half of its population inside and outside the country. 

AFP