Airstrikes in Eastern Syria Kill 30, Including 9 Iran-Aligned Fighters

A Britain-based war monitor has reported that at least nine Iran-aligned fighters were killed by airstrikes in an eastern Syrian villa that resulted in the death of at least 30 people. 

“Nine pro-Iranian fighters, including a leader and a Syrian, were killed and more than 20 wounded in airstrikes targeting the villa they were staying in,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights detailed, adding the villa served as a crucial communications hub for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The NGO did not publicly ascribe an origin to the strikes, though media outlets close to the Syrian government have attributed the action to the United States. Both the US and Israel have recently carried out retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militias based in Syria and Iraq.  

Iran’s backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s ongoing catastrophic civil war has led the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to carry out targeted strikes against the regime. Nonetheless, Israeli policy generally dictates that the government neither confirms nor denies its responsibility for these extraterritorial acts, and therefore the government rarely discusses them in public.  

Since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel threw the entire region into chaos, cross-border clashes between the IDF and Iran-aligned elements in Syria have increased significantly. Similarly to Israel’s ongoing skirmishes with Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israeli forces have also been directly attacking Syrian army infrastructure and forces.