(Xinhua/NAN)
At least 23 pro-government fighters were killed by a fresh Israeli missile strike in eastern Syria after midnight, a war monitor reported on Wednesday.
The “intense” missile strike targeted positions of Syrian forces and allied Iranian-backed fighters in the area extending from the city of Deir al-Zour to the al-Bukamal area on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
”Seven of those killed were Syrians while the rest are Iranian-backed fighters, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog group said.
It noted that the death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded fighters.
Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA reported the Israeli strikes without giving details.
It’s the second strike to target Syrian sites in 2021.
According to the Observatory, Israel had carried out a total of 39 attacks on Syrian military sites in 2020 alone, which killed 217 Syrian soldiers and pro-Iran fighters.