War monitor: 15 pro-Iran fighters killed in Syria

Fifteen pro-Iran fighters from Iraq were killed on Monday during raids that targeted the Al- Bukamal city in the Deir Ez-Zor countryside in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported yesterday.

The war monitor said unknown warplanes carried out intensive airstrikes for several hours against Iranian forces and militias loyal to them in Imam Ali Base, areas near Al-Sekka, and in Al-Bukamal desert in the eastern countryside of Deir Ez-Zor.

“Reliable” sources told the organisation that military vehicles belonging to the forces transported the dead and wounded militiamen to the Iraqi territories after the strikes while the Iranian forces were mobilised inside Al- Bukamal.

The observatory said a violent explosion was heard in the green belt area south of Al-Bukamal city as a result of an airstrike by an unknown warplane against Iranian militia sites there.

Violent explosions were also heard on Monday in the Quneitra region in southern Syria after an Israeli warplane targeted military sites in the area.

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The Israeli army said its fighter jets, attack helicopters, and other warplanes struck Syrian army positions in retaliation for the attempt to lay explosives in the occupied Golan Heights.

“The targets struck include observation posts and intelligence collection systems, anti-aircraft artillery facilities and command and control systems in SAF (Syrian Armed Forces) bases,” the army said in a statement.