ZCZC
BFF-26
SYRIA-CONFLICT-IRAN
East Syria air raids kill 12 pro-Iran fighters: monitor
BEIRUT, June 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – At least 12 pro-Iranian fighters
died in strikes by unidentified aircraft on eastern Syria late
Saturday evening, a war monitor said.
“Eight air strikes before midnight on Saturday night targeted a base
of pro-Iranian forces in rural eastern Deir Ezzor (province), killing
12 Iraqi and Afghan fighters and destroying equipment and ammunition,”
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Observatory did not identify the aircraft responsible, but its
head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP that Israel was likely responsible.
The Jewish state has carried out hundreds of strikes targeting
regime and Iranian-backed forces, notably in Deir Ezzor.
The Israeli military rarely claims responsibility for such attacks
but has vowed to prevent Iran gaining a foothold in the war-torn
country or delivering advanced weaponry to Lebanese armed group
Hezbollah.
Iranian and Iraqi armed groups backing the regime of Bashar Al-Assad
have deployed across swathes of Deir Ezzor, a large desert province
bordering on Iraq.
The Observatory said the latest strikes came after Afghan forces
brought in reinforcements from near the Iraqi border to a large
Iranian base near the town of Al-Mayadin on the Euphrates river.
Two waves of similar strikes in May killed 12 pro-Iranian fighters,
according to the Observatory.
Syria’s complex, almost decade-long war has killed over 380,000
people, devastated the country’s infrastructure and forced millions of
people to flee their homes.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1818hrs