Warplanes suspected to be from the US-led coalition targeted Iranian positions in northeast Syria, an opposition official said Friday.
The official from the Deir Ezzor Military Council told the German news agency that warplanes believed to be from the coalition launched five airstrikes on a number of Iranian positions and their affiliated militias west of the city of Bukamal and near the town of Salihiyah, east of Mayadeen, in the countryside of eastern Deir Ezzor.
“The explosions were so loud that they could be heard at a distance of more than 30 kilometers. Pro-Syrian government vehicles were seen heading there amid panic among residents,” the source said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there was “uncertainty regarding the nature of the violent explosions.”
On July 12, Observatory sources said new military and logistical reinforcements from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces entered the Iranian-held areas in Bukamal in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
The reinforcements included military personnel, vehicles, and logistical supplies.
The monitor said dozens of regime-backed militiamen defected from the “National Defense Forces” (NDF) and joined an Iranian-backed militia.
“Around 43 militiamen of the relatives of (Akram Ahmed Al-Akram Al-Khudur), the commander of an Iranian-backed tribal militia dubbed “Al-Sheikh Akram Brigade”, defected from NDF and joined Al-Akram’s militia, after being offered financial incentives and additional powers by the militia’s commander,” it wrote.
Iranian-sponsored militias in Deir Ezzor have been regularly targeted by the US-led coalition and Israel.
Meanwhile, a Kurdish news agency said Thursday that Russian soldiers have reportedly been injured in a Turkish drone strike near a Kurdish-controlled town in northeastern Syria.
The news agency said three Russian troops and three soldiers from the Assad regime were injured when a drone struck a Russian military position near the town of Derbassiyeh.
It published a video of injured soldiers in Russian military fatigue being evacuated for medical treatment after the strike.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
