Twenty-three Iran-linked fighters were killed in “probably Israeli” airstrikes in eastern Syria on Saturday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which also reported four deaths in other attacks near Aleppo (north).
“23 Iran-allied fighters,” including five Syrians, four Lebanese Hezbollah members, six Iraqis and eight Iranians, were killed in at least nine airstrikes on military positions near the border with Iraq, the NGO said, adding Around twenty people were injured.
The attacks were “probably Israeli,” OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP, initially saying they could have been carried out by the United States.
Asked about a possible American attack in eastern Syria, an American military official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP that his country “did not carry out a defensive attack during the night” on Friday. Until Saturday.
These comments come amid increasing attacks by pro-Iranian groups on the American army in Syria and Iraq since the war in Gaza began on October 7.
An arms shipment from Iraq and an ammunition depot were also attacked and there were large explosions, added the OSDH, which is based in the United Kingdom but has an extensive network of sources in Syria.
OSDH says more strikes near Aleppo
The OSDH also announced late Saturday that “Israeli missiles” had struck “warehouses and bases of pro-Iranian groups” in northern Syria in an area near Aleppo airport, killing four fighters.
At around 5:20 p.m. local time (2:20 p.m. GMT), “the Israeli enemy carried out an airstrike […] They are targeting a certain number of points south of the city of Aleppo,” said a military source quoted by the official Sana agency. However, she only reported “property damage.”
In addition, two fighters from a group linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah and supported by Tehran were killed in “Israeli ground bombings” in Qouneitra province (south) on the night from Friday to Saturday, the OSDH said.
The two men of “Palestinian origin” are “members of a group linked to the Syrian resistance for the liberation of the Golan.” [annexé par Israël]which works with the Lebanese Hezbollah,” the Observatory added.
The Israeli army announced Saturday morning that it was carrying out strikes in Syria after two rockets fired from that country hit territory it controls.
Israel, which has stepped up its attacks in Syria since October 7, rarely claims them. But he has repeatedly said he will not allow his arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria, including through militias or armed groups like Hezbollah.
Iran has supported armed groups in Syria since the conflict in that country began in 2011 and is part of the “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, which supports Hamas in connection with the war in Gaza.
For its part, Hezbollah, a Lebanese movement, announced on Saturday that four of its fighters had been killed “on the way to Jerusalem,” a term the group uses to describe its members who have fallen since October 7.
The movement, which engages in daily exchanges of fire with Israel on the Israeli-Lebanese border, did not provide further details.
Hezbollah also says it supports its Hamas ally in Gaza.