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BFF-31
SYRIA-AIRSTRIKE
Early airstrikes kill 16 pro-gov’t fighters in E Syria
DAMASCUS, Sept 3, 2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – A total of 16 pro-government fighters were killed by airstrikes that hit their positions early Thursday in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.
Airstrikes, believed to be Israeli, targeted positions of the Iraqi Hezbollah militia on the outskirts of the al-Mayadeen city in the countryside of Deir al-Zour at an early time Thursday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
At the same time, other warplanes struck positions of the Iraqi Hashd Shaabi south of the city of al-Bukamal in Deir al-Zour countryside, the UK-based watchdog group added.
The airstrikes destroyed three military vehicles and an ammunition depot.
The strikes came hours after Israeli warplanes fired missiles on the T4 air base in Syria’s central province of Homs.
According to the state news agency SANA, the airstrikes on the T4 left damage only, adding that air defenses intercepted most of the missiles.
On Monday, a total of 11 people, mostly military personnel, were killed in overnight Israeli missile strikes on the capital Damascus and Daraa province in southern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Throughout the Syrian crisis, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria, as well as convoys transporting weapons to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia allegedly backed by Iran.
BSS/XINHUA/FI/ 2010 hrs