Nighttime airstrikes targeted positions of pro-Iranian armed groups in eastern Syria, killing at least nine fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Tuesday.
“Nine pro-Iranian fighters including a leader were killed and more than 20 injured in strikes against the villa in which they were located and which served as a communications center”
in the Deir Ezzor region, according to the OSDH.
The NGO, which has a vast network of sources in war-torn Syria, did not immediately specify who was behind the strikes.
But in Damascus, media close to the authorities reported
“American strikes”
on targets in the east of the country without providing other details.
Pro-Iranian groups hunted by Israeli and American forces
Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, neighboring Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against pro-Iranian groups fighting alongside the regime.
The United States has also targeted pro-Iranian groups in eastern Syria.
According to the OSDH, a few hours before Tuesday's strikes, an Iranian cargo plane carrying technical equipment and members of the Revolutionary Guards - Iran's ideological army - landed in Deir Ezzor from Damascus.
The villa in Deir Ezzor which was completely destroyed had been taken by the Revolutionary Guards, the NGO added.
The last similar strikes date back to early February, when at least 29 pro-Iranian fighters including nine Syrians, six Iraqis and six Lebanese from Hezbollah, were killed in Deir Ezzor and Al-Mayadine in American raids, according to the OSDH.
These raids were in response to an attack attributed by Washington to pro-Iran groups on January 28 against an American base in Jordan, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, in which three American soldiers were killed.