5 pro-Iran militants killed in US airstrikes near Iraq-Syria border

At least five members of pro-Iranian factions were killed in US airstrikes on the Iraqi-Syrian border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Monday.

“At least five Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters were killed and several others were wounded in an attack by US warplanes on the militia’s headquarters near the Iraqi-Syrian border and inside Syrian territories,” SOHR announced in a statement.

Syrian news agency SANA reported that one child was killed and many civilians injured in airstrikes that occurred after midnight in Deir Ez-Zor’s eastern countryside.

Earlier on Sunday, the Pentagon confirmed in a statement that it had conducted “retaliatory targeted airstrikes” against “facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups” on the Iraq-Syria border.

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“US military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby disclosed in a statement, adding that President Joe Biden gave orders to carry out the attacks.

Kirby confirmed that the targets – two in Syria and one in Iraq – were selected because: “These facilities are utilised by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.”

According to the Pentagon spokesperson, the facilities were used by several pro-Iran factions, including the Kataeb Hezbollah and Kataeb Sayyid Al-Shuhada.