ZCZC
BFF-29
SYRIA-CONFLICT-ISRAEL-TOLL-LEAD
Israeli strikes on Syria kill 31: monitor
BEIRUT, Jan 13, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli night raids targeting arms depots
and military positions in eastern Syria killed at least seven Syrian soldiers
and 24 allied fighters, in the deadliest raids since 2018, a war monitor said
Wednesday.
The Israeli air force carried out more than 18 strikes against multiple
targets in an area stretching from the eastern town of Deir Ezzor to the
Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The raids killed seven Syrian soldiers and 24 foreign militia fighters
whose nationalities were not immediately known, the Britain-based monitoring
group said.
Paramilitaries belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Fatimid
Brigade, which is made up of pro-Iranian Afghan fighters, operate in the
region, the Observatory said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman called the Israeli raids the “deadliest
since June 2018” when strikes on the same region killed at least 55 pro-
government fighters, including Iraqis as well as Syrians.
In November, similar raids on eastern Syria killed at least 19 pro-Iran
militia fighters, the monitor said.
Wednesday’s raids came hours after a separate wave of strikes near the
Iraqi border killed at least 12 Iran-backed militia fighters on Tuesday.
The Observatory said it could not identify the warplanes responsible for
the earlier strikes.
The Syrian state news agency SANA reported Wednesday’s raids but gave few
details.
“At 1:10 am (2310 GMT Tuesday), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial
assault on the town of Deir Ezzor and the Albu Kamal region,” SANA said,
citing a military source.
“The results of the aggression are currently being verified,” it added.
It is less than a week since the last wave of Israeli strikes in Syria.
On January 7, Israel targeted positions in southern Syria and the southern
outskirts of Damascus, killing three pro-Iran fighters.
Israel routinely carries out raids in Syria, mostly against targets linked
to Iran in what it says is a bid to prevent its arch foe from consolidating a
foothold on its northern border.
Israel hit around 50 targets in Syria in 2020, according to an annual
report released in late December by the Israeli military.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes on Syria since
civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces
as well as Syrian government troops.
Israel rarely acknowledges individual strikes but has done so when
responding to what it describes as aggression inside Israeli territory.
The war in Syria has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions
more since it erupted after the brutal repression of anti-government
protests.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1539 hrs